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HISTORY 




DEPARTMENT OF STATE 



UNITED STATES. 



ITS FORMATION AND DUTIES, TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHIES 

OF ITS PRESENT OFFICERS AND SECRETARIES 

FROM THE BEGINNING. 




WASHINGTON : 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

I.90I. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

RECEIVED 

OCT 7 1901 

DMSfflN OF DOCUMENTS. 



HISTORY 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE 



UNITED STATES. 



ITS FORMATION AND DUTIES, TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHIES 

OF ITS PRESENT OFFICERS AND SECRETARIES 

FROM THE BEGINNING. 




WASHINGTON : 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, 
I 90 I . 



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c;o 



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NOTE. 



A comprehensive history of the Department of State 
would necessarily comprise several volumes. This work 
makes no pretension other than being simply the briefest 
possible outline of the development of the Department from 
its beginning. In the preparation of this sketch quotations 
have been freely made from a report to the Chief Clerk of 
the Department of State in 1893 by Mr. Gaillard Hunt, and 
full acknowledgment is hereby made to that painstaking 
and reliable writer of history. The chapters on the methods 
employed in the conduct of business in the several bureaus 
appear substantially as written by the chiefs of those bureaus. 
The data for the biographical sketches of the Secretaries 
has been obtained from various sources, and has been verified 
by the official records as far as seemed necessary. The illus- 
trations have been secured only after much effort, and the 
compiler feels confident that they will be highly appreciated. 
The work of the Department of State has grown apace 
with the development of the country, and this fact should 
prompt liberal appropriations for the use of the Secretary of 
State in carrying on the important work committed to him. 
The personnel and organization of the Department is as 
follows: 

A Secretary of State. 

An Assistant Secretary. 

A Second Assistant Secretary. 

A Third Assistant Secretary. 



4 Note. 

A Solicitor, who is an officer of the Department 
of Justice detailed for duty in the Department of 
State. 

A Chief Clerk. 

An Assistant Solicitor. 

Seven chiefs of bureau. 

Two translators. 

One private secretary to the Secretary of State. 

Ten clerks of class 4. 

Four clerks of class 3. 

Ten clerks of class 2. 

Twenty-four clerks of class 1. 

A telegraph operator. 

Five clerks at $1,000 each per annum. 

Ten clerks at $900 each per annum. 

One chief messenger. 

One messenger. 

Two assistant messengers. 

One packer. 

Thirteen laborers. 
Thus, including the Solicitor, the Department has a 
working force of ninety-nine persons. 

There have been thirty-seven Secretaries of State, two of 
whom, Daniel Webster, from March 5, 1841, to May 8, 1843, 
and from July 23, 1850, to October 24, 1852, and James G. 
Blaine, from March 5, 1 881, to December 19, 1881, and March 
7, 1889, to June 4, 1892, served under two different Adminis- 
trations, thus making 35 men who have actually occupied the 
place as regularly commissioned Secretaries. There have 
been seventeen ad interim Secretaries, two of whom, William 
Hunter, Chief Clerk, from March 3, 1853, to March 6, 1853, 
and from December 13, i860, to December 16, i860, and Mr. 
William F. Wharton, Assistant Secretary, from June 4, 1892, 
to June 29, 1892, and from February 24, 1893, to March 5, 



Note. 5 

1893, occupied the place under different Administrations. 
Of the thirty-five Secretaries, but four are living at this 
time, Foster, Olney, Day, and Hay. Of those appointed ad 
interim Secretary, two were Secretaries of War, five Attor- 
neys-General, six Chief Clerks, one Secretary of the Navy, 
three Assistant Secretaries, and one Second Assistant Secre- 
tary. Two ad interim Secretaries, Timothy Pickering, from 
December 10, 1795, to May 12, 1800, and Abel P. Upshur, 
from June 24, 1843, to February 28, 1844, were subsequently 
elevated to the position of Secretary. A number of Secre- 
taries were continued for longer or shorter periods from one 
administration to another in order to meet the convenience 
of the incoming administration. 

There have been twenty-five Assistant Secretaries, one of 
whom, William Hunter, was twice commissioned and served 
under two different Administrations. 

There have been two Second Assistant Secretaries since 
that office was created, July 27, 1866, Mr. Hunter and Mr. 
Adee, both of whom had served as Third Assistant Secre- 
taries. 

There have been ten Third Assistant Secretaries since 
that office was established, February 24, 1875. 

There have been twenty-six Chief Clerks, one of whom 
was twice appointed, six served as ad interim Secretaries, 
one was promoted to Third Assistant and three to be Assist- 
ant Secretaries. 

The present diplomatic service is composed of one hun- 
dred and three persons, of whom six are ambassadors, 
thirty envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, 
four ministers resident, and one charge d'affaires. 

The present consular service is composed of thirty-nine 
consulates-general, two hundred and fifty-five consulates, 
and twenty-three commercial agencies, employing about 
eleven hundred persons, making a total in the diplomatic 



6 Note. 

and consular service of about twelve hundred persons. 
The supervision and direction of this force devolves upon 
the Department of State; and the reader will not fail to 
note that the necessary correspondence by mail and cable 
with such an army, engaged in safeguarding and advancing 
American interests abroad, must entail biirdensome work 
on a Departmental force of ninety-nine people. 

The work of the Department has increased over 80 per 
cent in the last ten years, without any essential increase 
in its working force. Both the force and available working 
space in the Department will have to be increased very con- 
siderably within a short time in order to meet the absolute 
necessities of the service. 

Wm. H. Michael, 
Chief Clerk, and Representative of the Depart- 
ment of State on the Government Board of 

Management, Pan-American Exposition. 
August i, 1901. 



OFFICERS AND CHIEFS 

OF 

The Department of State. 



1901. 



Secretary of State, 

JOHN HAY, of the District of Columbia. 
Assistant Secretary of State, 

DAVID J. HILL, of New York. 
Second Assistant Secretary of State, 

ALVEY A. ADEE, of New York. 
Third Assistant Secretary of State, 

THOMAS W. CRIDLER, of West Virginia. 
Solicitor, 

WILLIAM L. PENFIELD, of Indiana. 
Chief Clerk, 

WILLIAM H. MICHAEL, of Nebraska. 
Assistant Solicitor, 

FREDERICK VAN DYNE, of New York. 
Chief of the Diplomatic Bureau, 

SYDNEY Y. SMITH, of the District of Columbia. 
Chief of the Consular Bureau, 

ROBERT S. CHILTON, Jr., of the District of Columbia. 
Chief of the Bureau of Indexes and Archives, 

PENDLETON KING, of North Carolina. 
Chief of the Bureau of Accounts and Disbursing Clerk, 

THOMAS MORRISON, of New York. 
Chief of the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, 

FREDERIC EMORY, of Maryland. 
Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library, 

ANDREW H. ALLEN, of North Carolina. 
Chief of the Bureau of Appointments, 

ROBERT BRENT MOSHER, of Kentucky. 
Translators, 

HENRY L. THOMAS, of New York. 

JOHN S. MARTIN, Jr., of Pennsylvania. 



DIFFERENT BUILDINGS OCCUPIED BY THE 
OFFICE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND THE 
DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 

The foreign affairs of the country were first conducted 
under the direct supervision and direction of the Congress. 
The first building, therefore, in which foreign affairs were 
given consideration was that in which the Congress first 
met. This was Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, located at 
the end of an alley south from Chestnut, between Third 
and Fourth streets. From here the Government was 
removed to Independence Hall, where foreign affairs were 
conducted till the Department of Foreign Affairs was 
organized and installed in a small house at No. 13 South 
Sixth street. This building was occupied by the Office of 
Foreign Affairs from the latter part of 1781 till June, 1783, 
when the Department was practically suspended. It was 
revived and placed on a broader basis by John Jay in 1785. 
A good picture of the first building occupied by the Office 
of Foreign Affairs, separate from the Congress, is presented 
on another page. 

The seat of government was removed to New York City 
in 1785. The Office of Foreign Affairs was established in 
the room of I^aunce's Tavern in which General Washington 
bade farewell to his generals at the close of the war. 
It was removed from this place in 1788 to a house owned 
by Philip Livingston, located on the west side of Broadway, 
near the Battery. Subsequently it was transferred to a 
house on the same street, but on the opposite side. 

9 



io History and Functions of the Department of State. 

The seal of government was again established in Phila- 
delphia, and the Office of Foreign Affairs was located on 
Market street, where it remained bnt a short time, when it 
was removed to the southeast corner of Arch and Sixth 
streets, then in North alley, and then on the corner of Fifth 
and Chestnut, where it remained till the capital was 
removed to Washington. It might be stated that the office 
was temporarily removed to Trenton, N. J., on account of 
the prevalence of yellow fever in Philadelphia, where it 
occupied a room in the State House for a period of three 
months. 

The first home of the Office of Foreign Affairs in the 
new capital was in the Treasury building, the only one 
sufficiently completed to afford accommodation. This 
building was occupied by the Department June i, 1800. 
August 27, 1800, the office was removed to one of the "six 
buildings " on Pennsylvania avenue and Twentieth street. 
In May, 1801, it was moved to Seventeenth street into what 
was known as the War Office. It remained here till 
December, 181 9, except from September, 181 4, till April, 
1 8 16, during which time it occupied a building on the 
south side of G street, near Eighteenth N. W., while the 
former building was undergoing repairs made necessary by 
the damages inflicted by British troops in August, 181 4. 

In January, 1820, the Department was moved to the 
corner of Fifteenth street and Pennsylvania avenue and 
installed in the north, wing of the old Treasury building. 
Here it remained till October, 1866. A correct picture of 
the wing is given on another page. 

In October, 1866, the Department was established in the 
building on the corner of Fourteenth and S streets, known 
as the Washington Orphan Asylum. A good picture of 
this building is given on another page. 

In July, 1875, tne Department was removed to its present 




<* of 

2 OQ 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 1 1 

fine quarters in the south wing of the State, War and Navy 
building. A correct picture is presented of the south and 
east fronts of this splendid specimen of architecture as 
a frontispiece. 

The business of the Department of State has attained 
such magnitude and is growing so rapidly that it will be 
necessary for Congress to provide a new and larger building 
within a few years to meet the requirements of efficient and 
economic service. In fact, it may be stated, that at the 
present time the Department is greatly embarrassed for 
want of room. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 



DEPARTMENT OE FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 

The Continental Congress assembled in Carpenter's Hall 
at Philadelphia September 5, 1774. After some discussion 
a loyal address to the King of England was adopted, asking 
him to recall the unjust measures which were oppressing 
his subjects in America. The address was sent to Paul 
Wentworth, Charles Garth, William Ballou, Thomas Life, 
Edmund Burke, Arthur Lee, and Benjamin Franklin, 
" Friends to American Libert)' " residing in England. They 
were instructed to act for the " United Colonies." Ballou, 
Lee, and Franklin were the only three who did so. 

The efforts of the agents failed, and the colonies had to 
choose between submission and rebellion. As an important 
means of prosecuting the rebellion a " Committee of Secret 
Correspondence" was appointed November 29, 1775, com- 
posed of Benjamin Franklin as chairman; Benjamin Harri- 
son, of Virginia; John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania; Thomas 
Johnson, of Maryland; and John Jay, of New York, as mem- 
bers. This was essentially a committee of foreign affairs. 
It instructed Arthur Lee to communicate with the French 
minister of foreign affairs, Count Vergennes, and invoke 
French aid for the colonies. Negotiations resulted three 
years later in an alliance, offensive and defensive, with 
France. 



14 History and Fit net ions of the Department of State. 

The Committee of Secret Correspondence was succeeded 
April 17, 1777, by the "Committee for Foreign Affairs," 
which was created by act of Congress. The first members of 
this committee were Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia; Robert 
Morris, of Pennsylvania; Thomas Hay ward, jr., of North 
Carolina; and James Lovell, of Massachusetts. The person- 
nel of the committee, however, underwent constant changes. 
The first secretary of the committee was Thomas Paine, who 
received a salary of $70 a month. He was dismissed in 
January, 1779, because he made an official matter public. 
The chief function of the committee was to keep agents 
of the Government abroad advised respecting the progress 
of events in America, and to simply execute the orders of 
Congress. Further than this it had little real power over 
our foreign affairs. The only member who remained con- 
tinuously on the committee was Lovell. He was a Boston 
school-teacher; was imprisoned by the British after the battle 
of Bunker Hill; was exchanged later, and elected a member 
of Congress in December, 1776, serving till 1782. He is 
represented as having been a man of learning and ability, 
but of such eccentricities of manner and temper as to lead 
at times to doubts of his sanity. During the period of the 
intrigues of the Conway cabal against General Washington, 
Lovell espoused the cause of General Gates. 

The committee became so unimportant a body that after 
a time it almost ceased to exist. " There is really," wrote 
Lovell to Arthur Lee, August 6, 1779, "no such thing as 
a Committee of Foreign Affairs existing — no secretary or 
clerk, further than I persevere to be one and the other. The 
books and the papers of that extinguished body lay yet on 
the table of Congress, or rather are locked up in the Secre- 
tary's private box." 

The demand for a department through which to con- 
duct foreign affairs resulted in " a plan for the Department 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 15 

of Foreign Affairs," reported to Congress in January, 1781. 

The opening paragraph of the plan reads : 

That the extent and rising power of these United States entitles them 
to a place among the great potentates of Europe, while our political and 
commercial interests point out the propriety of cultivating with them a 
friendly correspondence and connection. 

The Department was organized August 10, 1781, and 
Robert R. Livingston, of New York, who had been a mem- 
ber of the old committee for a short time in 1779, was 
elected Secretary. He filled this position till June 4, 1783. 
Dr. Francis Wharton speaks of his character and services 
thus: " Mr. Livingston, though a much younger man than 
Franklin, possessed, in his dispassionateness and his many- 
sidedness, not a few of Franklin's characteristics. From 
his prior administrative experience as royalist recorder of 
New York he had at least some acquaintance with practical 
government in America: his thorough studies as scholar 
and jurist gave him a knowledge of administrative politics 
in other spheres. * * * He did more than anyone in 
the home government in shaping its foreign policy." 

Notwithstanding this Department was not permitted by 
Congress to take independent action in the conduct of for- 
eign affairs, its duties were highly important. It was made 
the medium of all correspondence with our agents abroad. 
The foreign correspondence required great labor and pre- 
caution. At least four, and sometimes seven, copies of 
every letter were sent, to lessen the chances of loss by 
capture, and on each packet was written the warning, " to 
be sunk in case of danger from the enemy." Ciphers were 
freely used, and some of the letters were in invisible ink. 
Notwithstanding this precaution, a large portion of the letters 
fell into British hands. 

Previous to his departure from Congress Livingston sub- 
mitted a report, showing all the officers serving under him 
and their salaries. The "Secretary to the United States 



1 6 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

for Foreign Affairs" received $4,000 per annum. Benjamin 
Franklin, u Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at 
the Court of Versailles, and Minister Plenipotentiary for 
negotiating a peace;" John Adams, "Minister Plenipoten- 
tiary at the Hague and for negotiating a peace; " John Jay, 
"Minister Plenipotentiary at Madrid and for negotiating 
a peace;" Henry Laurens, "Minister Plenipotentiary for 
negotiating a peace;" and Thomas Jefferson, with the same 
rank, each received a salary of $1 1 , 1 1 1 per annum. William 
Carmichael, "Secretary to the Embassy at the Court of 
Madrid," and Francis Dana, Minister at St. Petersburg, each 
received $4,444.40 per annum. Charles W. F. Dumas, 
"Agent of the United States at the Hague," received $920; 
William Temple Franklin, "Secretary to the Hon. Ben- 
jamin Franklin," $1,300; Lewis R. Morris, "First Under 
Secretary in the Office of Foreign Affairs," $800; Peter L. 
Du Ponceau, "Second Under Secretary in the Office of 
Foreign Affairs," $700; John P. Tetend, "Clerk and Inter- 
preter of the French Language," $500; Walter Stone, 
"Clerk," $500. The total cost of the entire service at home 
and abroad was $73,244. 

When Livingston retired the business of the Department 
was left in the hands of the under secretary, Lewis R. Mor- 
ris. He was without legal authority to act, and severed his 
connection with the Department soon afterwards. He was 
succeeded by Henry Remsen, jr. The Department of For- 
eign Affairs, however, had practically ceased to exist, and 
Congress managed the foreign relations of the country 
through committees appointed, as occasion arose, to consider 
specific questions. 

John Jay, of New York, was one of the commissioners 
who, in 1783, negotiated at Paris the definitive treaty of 
peace with Great Britain. He sailed for home in the sum- 
mer of 1784, and before his arrival was elected Secretary of 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 17 

Foreign Affairs on motion of Elbridge Gerry, of Massachu- 
setts. He took the oath of office and entered on his duties 
September 21, 1784, and the functions of the Department 
were revived, but they were ill defined and limited, and the 
Secretary was constantly complaining of the unsatisfactory 
nature and scope of his authority. 

A committee of Congress reported August 14, 1788, upon 
the Department of Foreign Affairs. It occupied two rooms, 
one the Secretary's, the other that of his deputy and clerks. 
The daily transactions were entered in a minute book and 
subsequently copied into a journal. The letters to minis- 
ters and others abroad were entered in a book called the 
" Book of Foreign Letters," such parts as required secrecy 
being in cipher. The domestic correspondence was entered 
in the " American Letter Book." The " Book of Reports " 
contained the Secretary's reports to Congress. There was 
also a book in which were recorded the passports issued to 
vessels, one of " Foreign Commissions," a " Book of Ac- 
counts," and one containing acts of Congress relative to the 
Department. The papers of the old Committee of foreign 
Affairs and all the correspondence of our ministers abroad 
were properly cared for. The office was open for business 
from 9 o'clock in the morning till 6 at night, and either 
the deputy or a clerk remained in the office while the others 
were at dinner. The committee concluded their report by 
saying: "And upon the whole they find neatness, method, 
and perspicacity throughout the Department." 

The last act relative to foreign affairs by the expiring 
Congress was in the form of a resolution, dated September 
16, 1788, which reads: 

Resolved, That no further progress be made in the negotiations with 
Spain by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, but that the subject to which 
they relate be referred to the Federal Government which is to assemble in 
March next. 



1 8 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

One month later the Congress expired for want of a 
quorum. 

Livingston and Jay, the only two Secretaries of Foreign 
Affairs, displayed conspicuous ability in the conduct of their 
office, and it is doubtful if men better equipped for the 
office could have been found in America. The diplomacy 
of the Revolution was, on the whole, splendidly successful, 
due chiefly to the genius and energy of our diplomatists, 
for it must be admitted that the machinery which they were 
obliged to use was weak and inadequate for its purpose. In 
no branch of governmental affairs was the necessity for a 
stronger government and closer union of the States than in 
our foreign relations, and this was more evident after the 
peace than it was while the States were forced into unity of 
action by the common danger of war. " When our minis- 
ters and agents in Europe," says John Fiske, " raised the 
question as to making commercial treaties, they were dis- 
dainfully asked whether European powers were expected to 
deal with thirteen governments or with one. If it was 
answered that the United States constituted a single Govern- 
ment, so far as their relations with foreign powers were 
concerned, then we were forthwith twitted with our failure 
to keep our engagements with England with regard to the 
loyalists and the collection of private debts. ' Yes, we see,' 
said the European diplomats; ' the United States are one 
nation today and thirteen tomorrow, according as ma}' seem 
to subserve their selfish interests.' Jefferson, at Paris, was 
told again and again that it was useless for the French Gov- 
ernment to enter into any agreement with the United States, 
as there was no certainty that it would be fulfilled on our 
part, and the same things were said all over Europe." 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 19 
THE NEW GOVERNMENT UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. 

The new Government under the Constitution assembled 
in New York early in April, 1789. After Washington had 
been elected President and John Adams Vice-President, the 
business of providing executive departments was taken np, 
and the first one considered was a department for foreign 
affairs. The bill introduced in the House of Representa- 
tives June 2 provided for such a department completely 
separated from the conduct of domestic affairs. One clause 
in the bill provided that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs 
should be " removable from office by the President of the 
United States," and this gave rise to an important debate 
covering the whole question of removals from public office. 
Several members contended that, as the Senate under the 
Constitution participated in appointments, it should also 
participate in removals; but this, as Boudinot, of New Jer- 
sey, pointed out, would permit the Senate to sit as judges, 
to determine whether sufficient cause of removal existed, 
and would put the Senate over the President in a question 
between him and his subordinate agent. Madison shared 
this view, but contended, in the course of the debate, that 
should the President remove his secretary for an improper 
cause he might be subject to impeachment. 

The bill, containing an expression of the right of removal, 
passed the House June 27 by a vote of 29 to 22. A few 
unimportant amendments, to which the House subsequently 
agreed, were made in the Senate, and the bill became a law 
July 27, 1789. Its title was "An act for establishing an 
Executive Department, to be denominated the Department 
of Foreign Affairs." It comprised four sections. The first 
defined the duties of the Department to be correspondence 
with and instructions to diplomatic and consular agents 
abroad and negotiations with the agents of foreign nations 



20 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

in the United States, "Or to such other matters respecting 
foreign affairs as the President of the United States shall 
assign to the said Department." The second section pro- 
vided for the appointment by the Secretary of a Chief Clerk, 
who should have charge of the records, books, and papers of 
the Department during a vacancy in the office of the Secre- 
tary, by removal by the President or other cause. The third 
section required that each person employed in the Depart- 
ment should take an oath or affirmation "well and faithfully 
to execute the trust committed to him." The fourth section 
provided that the Secretary should have custody of all the 
papers which had been in the old office of foreign affairs. 

John Jay, being in charge of the old Department of For- 
eign Affairs, was continued, without renewal of appointment, 
temporarily in charge of the new one. This Department, 
however, was destined to enjoy brief existence. Before the 
final passage of the act creating it, Vining, of Delaware, pro- 
posed in the House the establishment of a Home Depart- 
ment, to have the custody of the Great Seal, correspond 
with the several States, report to the President "plans for 
the protection and improvement of manufactures, agricul- 
ture, and commerce," issue patents, etc., but this proposition 
met with little favor, and July 31, four days after the bill 
establishing the Department of Foreign Affairs had been 
signed, Theodore Sedgwick, of Connecticut, introduced a 
bill "to provide for the safe-keeping of the acts, records, and 
Great Seal of the United States; for the publication, preser- 
vation, and authentication of the acts of Congress," etc. 
The House passed it August 27; it was concurred in with a 
few verbal amendments by the Senate September 7, agreed 
to by the House the next day, and signed by the President 
September 15. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 21 

DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS BECOMES DEPART- 
MENT OF STATE. 

The first section of this act of September 15 provides 
that the " Executive Department denominated the Depart- 
ment of Foreign Affairs shall hereafter be denominated the 
Department of State, and the principal officer shall here- 
after be called the Secretary of State." The Secretary was 
required to receive and publish the laws of the United 
States; to be the custodian of the seal of the United States; 
to authenticate copies of records and papers properly com- 
ing before him, and to receive all the records and papers in 
the office of the late Secretary of Congress, except such as 
related to the Treasury and War Departments. 

The scope of the Department was thus materially en- 
larged, and it became the most important of the Govern- 
ment offices under the President. The governors of the 
States had been informed by the President July 5 of the 
creation of the Department of Foreign Affairs. They were 
informed September 21 of its expansion into the Depart- 
ment of State. A few days later Jay was nominated to be 
Chief Justice of the United States and Thomas Jefferson to 
be Secretary of State. Both were commissioned September 
26. Jefferson was still on his mission to France, and Octo- 
ber 13 Washington wrote informing him of his appoint- 
ment, and added that " Mr. Jay had been so obliging as to 
continue his good offices." Jefferson arrived in this country 
in December following, and Jay wrote him under date of 
December 12, congratulating him on his appointment, and 
favorably recommending to him "the young gentlemen in 
the office." The acceptance of the office by Jefferson was 
not made till February 14, 1790, when he wrote Washing- 
ton from Monticello that he would shortly set out for New 



22 History and Functions of the Department of State. \ 

York to assume his new duties. Upon his arrival in New 
York the Department was formally turned over to him and 
started upon its larger career. The first Secretary of *State 
brought to the office ripe experience and rare gifts, for he 
had been minister to France, had had executive experience 
as governor of Virginia during the Revolution, had gained 
legislative experience in 1776 when he sat in Congress, and 
was the author of the Declaration of Independence. 

When the Department of State was started the salary 
of the Secretary was fixed by law at $3,500 pec annum; 
that of the Chief Clerk at $800; that of the other clerks 
at not more than $500. Roger Alden, the Chief Clerk, 
had been Deputy Secretary under Charles Thomson to the 
old Congress. He served as Chief Clerk till he resigned, 
July 25, 1790, to enter into more lucrative employment. 
His place was filled by the promotion of Henry Remsen, jr., 
who had maintained a connection with the Government's 
foreign office from March, 1784, when he was Under Secre- 
tary of Foreign Affairs. In 1792 he was appointed first 
teller of the United States Bank, and George Taylor, jr., 
who had been a clerk in the Department for seven years, 
took his place. 

From the very beginning the Department of State had 
been more closely connected with the President than any 
other Executive Department. Washington not only referred 
to it all official letters relating to its business, but made it 
the repository of the drafts of most of his own letters. The 
volume of business of the Government rendered it possible 
at that period for the President to attend personally to mat- 
ters which are now rarely, if ever, brought to his attention. 
It was Jefferson's custom to consult his chief frequently. 
He sent him the rough drafts of his letters for approval or 
correction, and carried to him all communications of con- 
sequence. The foreign ministers to the United States were 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 23 

not permitted to correspond directly with the President, bnt 
were required to address the Secretary of State. This rule 
had been laid down before Jefferson's appointment, when 
Washington declined direct correspondence with Monstier, 
the French minister, and Moustier's successor, the notorious 
Genet, receiVed a forcible reminder of it in 1793. 

The Department was also the medium of correspondence 
between the President and the governors of the several 
States. 

A number of the duties which fell to the Department 
soon after its organization have since passed out of its juris- 
diction. Under the law of April 10, 1790, it had charge of 
the patent business. The patents were granted by a board 
composed of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, 
and the Attorney-General. The first patent issued was to 
Samuel Hopkins, July 31, 1790, and was signed by the Presi- 
dent, Jefferson, and Randolph, Attorney-General. Three 
patents were issued that year. In 1793 another act relative 
to patents was passed, which abolished the board and placed 
the Secretary of State alone at the head of the Patent Office. 
In 1 810 the Patent Office was given separate quarters, but 
remained nominally under control of the Secretary of State. 
In 1849 the Department of the Interior was formed, and the 
Patent Office was merged into it. Under the new order 
Henry Remsen immediately assumed charge, but without 
official title. In 1802 Dr. William Thornton was appointed 
in charge of the patent business, and took the title of " Super- 
intendent of Patents.' 1 He died in 1828, and was succeeded 
by Thomas P. Jones, who in turn gave place to Dr. John D. 
Craig in 1830. It was not till 1830 that the title " Super- 
intendent " received statutory sanction. 

A law passed May 31, 1790, made the Department of 
State the repository of maps, charts, and books for which 
copyright might be granted by United States district courts. 



24 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

It does not appear, however, that the Secretary of State % was 
given or exercised the power of granting copyrights. In 
1859 a ^ °f these records were by law turned over to the 
Department of the Interior, and later passed to the Library 
of Congress, where the business is now conducted. 

x\nother of the earlier functions of the Department was 
the superintendence of the census enumeration. The first 
census taken was in 1790, by United States marshals. The 
enumeration began on the first Monday in August and closed 
within nine months. The returns were filed with the clerks 
of the Federal district courts. The aggregate results were 
sent to the President, who transmitted them to Congress, 
and were printed under the supervision of the Secretary of 
State. The returns of the census of 1800 were, under a 
later law, sent direct to the Secretary of State, who had pre- 
pared the instructions for the marshals by whom the census 
was taken. The business was transferred by Congress May 
23, 1850, to the Department of the Interior. 

Territorial affairs were under the Department of State 
till the organization of the Department of the Interior. 
When the Constitution was formed the Territory northwest 
of the Ohio was the only one. Its government, which had 
been organized under the Articles of Confederation, was 
continued by the act of August, 1789. The communica- 
tions from the governor to Congress were transmitted 
through the President, and the correspondence between the 
President and governor was conducted through the Depart- 
ment of State. The law of 1792 required the Secretary of 
State to have the laws of the Territory printed and to pro- 
vide seals for its officers. The subdivision of the Territory 
into separate governments increased the labor of the Depart- 
ment considerably, but did not materially change the char- 
acter of the labor. 

After the war of the rebellion the pardons under the 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 25 

President's amnesty proclamations were issued through the 
Department of State, where all the records were kept. The 
Secretary of State, conjointly with the Attorney-General,, 
considered and reported upon petitions for pardon of crimi- 
nals convicted by the Federal courts till 1850, when that 
duty passed into the hands of the Attorney-General. The 
reports were to the President, who has always exercised the 
power of granting pardons. Warrants for the pardons were 
issued by the Department of State continuously till 1893, 
when this duty was transferred to the Department of Justice 
by an Executive order. Subsequent to 1850 the functions 
of the Department of State respecting pardons were purely 
clerical, warrants being issued simply upon request of the 
Attorney-General . 

We may now consider the development of the machinery 
for transacting the business which still belongs to the 
Department. 

PERSONNEL OF THE DEPARTMENT, SALARIES, DIVISION OF 
LABOR, ETC. 

The salary of the Secretary of State was, as we have seen, 
fixed in the beginning at $3,500 per annum. It was raised 
to $5,000 by act of March 2, 1799; to $6,000 by act of Feb- 
ruary 20, 1819; to $8,000 by act of March 3, 1853; to $10,000 
by act of March 3, 1873, and reduced to $8,000, the present 
rate, by act of January 20, 1874. Under the law creat- 
ing the Department the Chief Clerk assumed charge of it 
whenever there was an interregnum in the office of the Sec- 
retary of State till the President designated some one to 
fill the office. In 1853 an Assistant Secretary of State was 
provided for by law, with power to act as Secretary during 
the latter 's absence or during an interregnum. The salary 
of the Assistant Secretary was fixed at $3,000 per annum. 
A Second Assistant Secretary was provided for in 1866, at 
4089—01 3 



26 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

$3,500 per annum. The Assistant Secretary's salary was 
raised by the same act to an equal sum. Subsequently the 
annual salary of the latter was increased to $4,500 per 
annum, the present rate. In 1875 the office of Third 
Assistant Secretary of State was created, with the same 
salary as the Second Assistant Secretary. The salaries of 
the Second and Third Assistants were made equal to that of 
the Assistant Secretary in 1900. The salary of the Chief 
Clerk, which was in the beginning $800 per annum, was 
soon afterwards increased to $2,000; then to $2,200; then 
to $2,400; then to $2,500; then to $2,750; then reduced to 
$2,500, and in 1901 was increased to $3,000. — -" 

The clerks in the Department were at first each paid $500 
a year, but a law passed in 1799 permitted the Secretary of 
State to vary their compensation according to their services, 
the whole expenditure not to exceed $5,950 a year. In 1829, 
the annual report of Henry Clay, Secretary of State, showed 
that there were employed, below the rank of Chief Clerk, 
three clerks at $1,600 each, five at $1,400 each, three at 
$1,000 each, two at $800 each; in the Patent Office, a Super- 
intendent at $1,500, one clerk at $1,000, and one at $800. 
One of the clerks at $1,000 received an additional sum of 
$250 a year as translator. The total amount paid for salaries 
increased steadily as the work of the Department expanded, 
and for the past ten years has averaged a little more than 
$100,000 per annum. In 1855 the clerks in the Department 
were classified, the permanent force being three clerks of 
Class I ($1,200), two of Class II ($1,400), eight of Class III 
($1,600), eight of Class IV ($1,800), one Chief Clerk, one of 
the clerks of Class IV to act as disbursing officer and give 
bonds and receive a salary of $2,000 a year. 

In 1848 the office of examiner of claims was created and 
filled by a clerk at $2,000 a year, whose duties were to exam- 
ine claims of our citizens against foreign Governments and 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 2 J 

of foreigners against onr Government. In 1866 this office 
•was regularly recognized by law and the salary fixed at 
$3,500. When the Department of Justice was formed, in 
1870, the office passed under its jurisdiction, while the duties 
of the incumbent remained, as the}' are now, a part of the 
functions of the Department of State. In 1891 the title was 
changed to " Solicitor of the Department of State," with a 
salary of $4,500. In 1900 Congress created the office of 
Assistant Solicitor and fixed the salary at $2,500. 

In the development of the Department a logical division 
of labor came ar^out, and the creation of bureaus and divi- 
sions necessarily followed. Clerks who had demonstrated 
special fitness for particular work received appropriate 
assignments. 

In a circular dated October 31, 1834, John Forsyth, Sec- 
retary of State, prescribed the distribution of the duties in 
the Department. The Chief Clerk's duties, he said, were 
such as pertained to an under secretary. He was to exer- 
cise an immediate superintendence over the several bureaus, 
and report to the Secretary all acts of negligence or miscon- 
duct. The Diplomatic Bureau was to have charge of all 
correspondence between the Department and our diplomatic 
agents abroad and foreign diplomatic agents in the United 
States; was to prepare treaties, etc. The duties did not 
vary materially from those now pertaining to it. It was, 
however, to keep indexes of its correspondence, a function 
now performed by a separate bureau. Three clerks were in 
charge of the Bureau. The Consular Bureau had charge, 
similarly, of all consular correspondence, the business also 
being performed by three clerks. Each of these Bureaus 
now employs eleven clerks. 

The Home Bureau was divided into four divisions, one 
clerk being in charge of each. One division had control of 
the returns of passengers from foreign ports and registered sea- 



28 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

men, miscellaneous and domestic correspondence, treaties, and 
presents which were permitted to be exhibited. To another 
was given the custody of the seal of the United States and 
the seal of the Department, the applications for office, the 
commissions and appointments. A third had the Presiden- 
tial pardons, passports, and all correspondence relative to 
them. The fourth had in charge the filing and preserving 
of copyrights and the reports to the President and Congress. 
The keeper of the archives had charge of all archives other 
than diplomatic and consular, of the laws and their distri- 
bution, and of the publications of the Department. The 
translator and librarian performed all the translations and 
cared for the books, etc. The disbursing agent made all 
the purchases and disbursements, and was also superintendent 
of the building. All the business was confidential. The 
clerks were required to finally act upon and dispose of all 
matters sent to them on the day of their receipt. The hours 
of business were from 10 in the morning till 3 in the after- 
noon, during which tiiue no one was permitted to be absent 
except with special permission. The clerks in the Patent 
Office were under a separate arrangement. 

In 1842, when Daniel Webster was Secretary of State, 
the " Statistical Office " was originated. He recommended, 
in a report to Congress, that the arranging and condensing 
of information on commercial subjects received from our 
consuls abroad be intrusted to one person, who should also 
have charge of the correspondence. No action was taken 
on the subject by Congress until 1856, when the "Statis- 
tical Office of the Department of State " was authorized, 
under the charge of a" Superintendent," with a salary of 
$2,000. In 1874 the title was changed to " Bureau of Sta- 
tistics," with a chief receiving $2,400 a year. Secretary 
Sherman, acting under authority of a law passed that year, 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 29 

changed the name, by an order dated July 1, 1897, to the 
"Bureau of Foreign Commerce." 

In 1870 there was instituted the Bureau of Indexes and 
Archives, to index all incoming and outgoing mail, which 
had before been indexed by the several bureaus, and to have 
charge of the archives, diplomatic, consular, and domestic, 
thus taking the duties which had before belonged to the 
keeper of the archives. The salary of the chief was fixed in 
1873 at $2,400 a year. 

The financial business of the Department, previously 
intrusted to one of the clerks, by the act of 1855 was put in 
the hands of a disbursing clerk, who was ordered to give 
bonds. A Bureau of Accounts, with the disbursing clerk as 
chief, was formed in 1873. The sa -l ar y was the same as that 
of other chiefs of bureau. 

The librarian and translator was paid, under the act of 
1836, $1,600 a year. The two offices were subsequently 
separated, each being filled by a clerk. The separate Bureau 
of Rolls and Library was created in 1874, the laws, treaties, 
and historical papers being in its custody, as well as the 
books, periodicals, and maps. The chief received $2,400 
per annum. The translator was given the same salary in 

'875- 

The Diplomatic and Consular Bureaus continued practi- 
cally, as organized by Secretary Forsyth, but each bureau 
was for several years divided, there being a First Diplo- 
matic Bureau and a Second Diplomatic Bureau, and a First 
Consular Bureau and a Second Consular Bureau, each hav- 
ing a separate chief. They were restored to their original 
position in 1874, with the salary of $2,400 for the respect- 
ive chiefs. 

The passport business of the Department, which had been 
under Forsyth's arrangement a division of the Home Bureau, 



30 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

was afterwards separated and made a distinct bureau, with 
one of the clerks in charge of it. In 1894 it was placed 
under the Bureau of Accounts, but as a division, with the 
passport clerk at its head. To this division also was assigned 
the custody of the seal of the Department and the authenti- 
cation of documents. 

The applications for office, custody of the seal of the 
United States, preparation of commissions and appoint- 
ments, also formerly a part of the duties of the Home Bureau, 
were put under the Bureau of Commissions and Pardons, 
and after the pardons ceased to be made out in the Depart- 
ment, this was simply the Bureau of Commissions. Its 
name was subsequently changed to Appointment Division, 
by order of Secretary Olney, with the appointment clerk in 
charge. In 1898 it was constituted the Bureau of Appoint- 
ments, and the clerk in charge of the division made its chief, 
with a salary of $2,100. 

The law creating the Department of State prescribed that 
the Secretary should keep the seal of the United States, and 
he thus became the custodian of the most important official 
evidence of Federal executive authority. The law reads 
that the Secretary of State — 

shall affix the said seal to all civil commissions to officers of the United 
States, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and con- 
sent of the Senate, or by the President alone: Provided, That the said 
seal shall not be affixed to any commission before the same shall have 
been signed by the President of the United States, nor to any other instru- 
ment or act, without the special warrant of the President therefor. 

The seal thus, as the Supreme Court has expressed it, 
" attests, by an act supposed to be of public notoriety, the 
verity of the Presidential signature." 

At the present time the seal of the United States is affixed 
to the commissions of all Cabinet officers and diplomatic 
and consular officers appointed by the President ; to all 
ceremonious communications from the President to the 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 31 

heads of foreign governments ; to all treaties, conventions, 
and formal agreements of the President with foreign powers; 
to all exequaturs to foreign consular officers in the United 
States who are appointed by the heads of the governments 
which the}* represent ; to warrants by the President to receive 
persons surrendered by foreign governments under extradi- 
tion treaties ; and to all miscellaneous commissions of civil 
officers appointed by the President whose appointments are 
not now especially directed by law to be signed under a 
different seal. 

The recording of commissions has continued under prac- 
tically the same plan since 1789. The commission is made 
out in the Department and sent to the President. Upon 
being returned with his signature, it is countersigned by the 
Secretary of State and the seal is affixed. It is then recorded 
and delivered to the person for whom it is intended. 

Presidential warrants of extradition, as we have seen, bear 
the seal of the United States, and this brings us to one of 
the most important and interesting of the legal functions 
of the Department of State. Extradition, as it has been 
well defined, is "the act by which one nation delivers up an 
individual accused or convicted of an offense outside of its 
own territory to another nation which demands him." In 
the earlier days of the Republic this function was not infre- 
quently discharged by the governors of the individual States, 
in some cases with the approval of the Federal Secretary of 
State and in other cases without consulting him. Some of 
our States have even gone so far as to enact statutes con- 
ferring on their chief executives the power to deliver up 
fugitives from justice to foreign nations. But with the 
development and clearer comprehension of the powers of the 
National Government the States have ceased to deal with 
the subject, and it is now generally admitted to belong 
exclusive!}* to the General Government. By treaty between 



32 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

the United States and Mexico it is provided, however, that 
in the ease of crimes committed in the frontier States or 
Territories of the two countries, requisitions for extradition 
may be made and granted by State or Territorial authority. 
The first treaty of this country providing for mutual sur- 
render of criminals was that of 1794 with Great Britain. 
Murder and forgery were the only crimes included in it, and 
it expired in twelve years. A new treaty was concluded 
with Great Britain in 1842, and since then the practice of 
extradition has become general. 

ROUTINE DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT. 

Probably the most important routine duties of the Depart- 
ment of State are those connected with the diplomatic and 
consular service. The Department of Foreign Affairs was 
formed with the chief purpose of taking under its charge 
these functions of government, and the methods of adminis- 
tration have not changed materially since the early days of 
the Republic. Making allowances for increased facilities of 
communication between the home office and its agents 
abroad, a study of the system followed now will indicate, in 
a general way, what it has always been. 

The general rules and practices that govern our diplo- 
matic and consular corps are found in the various works on 
international law, and these cover even minute matters of 
form and routine ; but there has gradually grown up an 
American construction of international law. What this con- 
struction is may be found in the volumes known as Foreign 
Relations, which have been regularly issued by the Govern- 
ment since 1870, and which were issued before that, from 
1 861 to 1868, under the title Diplomatic Correspondence. 
Previous to 1861 the foreign correspondence is scattered in 
the various separate reports of Congress. In these volumes 
the instructions of the Secretary of State to our ministers 



History and Functions of the Department of State. ^ 

abroad, and their dispatches, and the notes exchanged be- 
tween the Secretary of State and foreign ministers accredited 
to this country, are given in part'. 

In 1877, under the supervision of John L. Cadwalader, 
Assistant Secretary of State, the Department issued a small 
volume entitled Digest of the Published Opinions of the 
Attorney-General and of the Leading Decisions of the Fed- 
eral Courts, with Reference to International Law, Treaties, 
and Kindred Subjects. This was followed in 1886 by the 
most important work on American international law that 
has ever been printed. It is entitled A Digest of the Inter- 
national Law of the United States, taken from Documents 
issued by Presidents and Secretaries of State, and from Deci- 
sions of Federal Courts and Opinions of Attorneys-General, 
and was published by the Government under Congressional 
authority. The compiler and editor was the late Francis 
Wharton, LL. D., who was Solicitor of the Department 
while he prepared the work. A second edition is now in 
press, under the editorship of John B. Moore, formerly an 
officer of the Department. 

The particular rules for the government of consular offi- 
cers are found in the volume known as Consular Regula- 
tions, the first edition of which appeared in 1855, when 
William L. Marcy was Secretary of State, under the title 
General Instructions to the Consuls and Commercial Agents 
of the United States. This publication followed the act of 
March 1, 1855, remodeling the consular and diplomatic 
service. In 1857 another edition was printed entitled Regu- 
lations Prescribed by the President for Consular Officers of 
the United States. The first volume, entitled Consular 
Regulations, was issued in 1874, under Secretary Hamilton 
Fish. There have been successive editions since then, the 
last appearing in 1896. 



34 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

The law creating the Department ordered that all bills, 
orders, resolutions, etc., passed by Congress and approved 
by the President, or passed over his veto, should be sent to 
the Secretary of State, by whom they were to be printed 
and the originals recorded and preserved. They were 
printed, under varying regulations, in newspapers until 1874, 
but this did not interfere with their publication also in 
pamphlet form. In 1795 a complete edition was printed 
and distributed by the Secretary of State, and this mode 
continued year after year. In 181 4 Bioren, Duane & 
Weightman were authorized to publish an edition of the 
laws in four volumes, under the supervision of the Secretary 
of State and the Attorney-General. This did not, however, 
supersede the regular Department publication. In 1842 
the edition printed by Little, Brown & Co. was recognized 
by law as authority, and the Department pamphlet was dis- 
continued. In 1864 it was revived and the payments to 
Little, Brown & Co. ceased. They were restored in 1866, 
and the contract with them was not finally terminated until 
1874. Since then the publication of the laws has rested 
wholly with the Secretary of State. In that year, also, the 
Revised Statutes of the United States was provided for. 
The Secretary of State was also required to sell the Revised 
Statutes and laws of each session " at the cost of the paper, 
presswork, and binding, with 10 per cent thereof added 
thereto, to any person applying for the same," but in 1898 
the sale of the laws passed by law to the Superintendent of 
Documents. 

In the custody of the Bureau of Rolls and Library are 
deposited, among other important papers, the Declaration 
of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the 
Constitution of the United States. A facsimile of the 
Declaration of Independence was made in 1824. On Jan- 
uary 2 of that year was read in the House of Representa- 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 35 

tives a letter from John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, 
stating that the facsimile had been made by his direction 
and 200 copies struck off. Later a joint resolution was 
passed providing for their distribution to various public 
institutions and to each of the surviving signers of the 
original. These were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton. The engraver who made the 
copy was William I. Stone, of Washington. Facsimiles 
have been struck off since and are now quite common. 
The original has faded so that the text is very dim, and the 
names of most of the signers have become almost illegible. 

The granting of passports to American citizens for their 
protection in traveling abroad became a function of the 
Government under the general provisions of international 
law as soon as there was competent authority for the 
purpose. 

The treaty of 1778 with France, the first made by the 
United States, provided for a form of passport to be given 
by the two Governments to their respective vessels, but not 
till 1856 was the authority of granting passports restricted 
by law to Federal authority. 

In the absence of any statute, the issuing of passports to 
American citizens going abroad fell to the Department of 
State as one of its manifestly proper functions. Neverthe- 
less, as they had doubtless been issued before the adoption 
of the Constitution by State or municipal authorities, they 
continued to be so issued without statutory prohibition until 
the enactment of the law of 1856. This law provided that 
the Secretary of State be authorized to grant and issue pass- 
ports, and cause them to be granted and verified in foreign 
countries by diplomatic and consular officers of the United 
States under such rules as the President might prescribe. 
No one else was to issue passports, and they must be issued 
to none but citizens of the United States. There was to be 



36 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

no charge, except in foreign countries, where the fee was to 
be $1. Any person not authorized to do so who granted a 
passport should, upon conviction of the offense, be deemed 
guilty of a .misdemeanor and fined and imprisoned. All 
returns of passports issued abroad were to be made to the 
Secretary of State. 

Such returns had, however, been made from the beginning; 
but it is probable that they were not made regularly or by 
all our agents abroad who granted passports. The early 
passports were not essentially different in form from those 
now iised, but frequently a simple certificate of citizenship 
was made to do duty for a regular passport. 

The act of July 1 , 1 863, was the first one establishing a pass- 
port fee, which was fixed at $3. This was increased to $5 by 
act of June 20, 1864. The administering of the oath was 
done by a regularly qualified person having authority to 
administer oaths for general purposes, but the act of February 
3, 1870, authorized the passport clerk in the Department to 
administer oaths and affirmations on applications for passports 
free of charge. These oaths and affirmations are deemed to 
be made under the pains and penalties of perjury. The pass- 
port fee was abolished by act of July 14, 1870, restored by 
that of June 20, 1874, and reduced by act of March 23, 1888, 
to $1, the present fee. 

The system, as it has been followed by the Department 
under the law, has been reduced to three classes of passports: 
The ordinary passport, the special passport, and that given 
to diplomatic representatives of foreign governments in their 
transit through the territory of the United States. 

The foregoing must be regarded as a mere outline sketch 
of the development of the Department of State. The far- 
reaching results of its work would fill volumes. These 
results constitute a part of the history of the advancement 
in power and prestige of the United States. The mission 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 37 

of the Department is one of peace. Its diplomatic agents 
uphold the honor and dignity of the nation in the family 
of nations by peaceful means. Its consular officers are the 
agents of trade and commerce, which prosper most in times 
of peace. The conclusions fairly reached by this Depart- 
ment in its diplomatic contentions with foreign Govern- 
ments, involving the rights of the Government or the 
humblest citizen of the United States, may be enforced by 
the power of other Departments. The supreme head of 
the Department of State is the President, and he is also the 
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy. 

SOME OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE DEPARTMENT. 

A few only of the achievements of the Department and 
its agents can be mentioned here. It was under the old 
Department of Foreign Affairs that the treaty of peace with 
Great Britain was negotiated in 1783, and the United States 
became a free and independent state. With Thomas Jef- 
ferson as President, James Madison as Secretary of State, 
and Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe as their agents 
in Paris, the territory of Louisiana was bought in 1803, and 
our domain was extended beyond the Mississippi River to 
the Pacific Ocean. In 1823, when Monroe was President, 
John Qumcy Adams, the Secretary of State, announced to 
foreign Governments the doctrine which more than seventy 
years afterwards Secretary Olney informed Lord Salisbury 
" courageously declared not merely that Europe ought not 
to interfere in American affairs, but that any European 
power doing so would be regarded as antagonizing the 
interests and inviting the opposition of the United States." 

In 1 848 the Department negotiated the treaty of Guadalupe 
Hidalgo, which terminated the war with Mexico and added 
an enormous territory to our Southern and Western bound- 
aries. In 1866 William Seward, having in mind the doctrine 



38 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

of Monroe, demanded the departure of the French army from 
M exico, and restored the Government of that country to its 
people. 

In 1 871 Hamilton Fish negotiated the treaty of Washing- 
ton with Great Britain, and the claims growing out of 
depredations by Confederate cruisers which had fitted out 
in Great Britain during our civil war were referred to 
an international tribunal of arbitration. It decided in 
our favor, and awarded to the United States the sum of 
$15,500,000. 

In 1867 Secretary of State Seward negotiated the pur- 
chase of Alaska. 

In 1842 Hawaii applied to the United States for recogni- 
tion. Secretary of State Webster defined the attitude of his 
Government toward the Sandwich Islands by declaring that 
the United States would oppose to the last extremity their 
seizure by anv power, and that we would respect their inde- 
pendence. The assertion of this purpose by the Depart- 
ment of State compelled England in 1843, anc ^ France in 
1 85 1, and Russia at a later date to relax their seizure of 
those islands. Secretaries Webster, Legare, Clay, Seward, 
and Blaine all asserted this attitude of our Government. 
A treaty was negotiated by Secretary Foster, agreed upon 
by both parties, and sent to the Senate by President Harri- 
son February 14, 1893. The treaty was withdrawn by 
President Cleveland. President McKinley revived the 
question, and a treaty was ratified by both parties, and 
annexation consummated September 16, 1898, which 
effected the absorption of the Sandwich Islands into the 
domain of the United States. 

In 1898 the treat)' of Paris was concluded under the 
direction of the Department of State, by which Porto Rico 
and the Philippine Islands became a part of the possessions 
of the United States. 



BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS OF THE PRESENT 
OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 



John Hay was born in Indiana in 1838; was graduated 
from Brown University, and studied law in Springfield, 111.; 
was Assistant Secretary to President Lincoln through his 
term of office, and served for a time as Assistant Adjutant- 
General with Generals Hunter and Gillmore; was Secretary 
of Legation at Paris in 1865 to 1867, and Charge d' Affaires 
at Vienna in 1 867-1 868; afterwards he was Secretary of 
Legation at Madrid a year; was for five years an editorial 
writer on the New York Tribune, and for a time Editor-in- 
Chief. In the Administration of President Hayes he was 
Assistant Secretary of State; in 1881 he was President of 
the International Sanitary Congress in Washington. 
When President McKinley assumed office Colonel Hay was 
appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. James, from 
which post he was called to Washington as Secretary of 
State. He has published Castilian Days, a biography of 
Abraham Lincoln (with John G. Nicolay), and a volume 
of poems. Was appointed Secretary of State September 
20, 1898, and entered upon his ditties September jo, i8p8. 

Mr. Hay is a member of the American Institute of Arts 
and Letters; of the Phi Beta Kappa and other learned 
societies of America and Europe; has received the degree 
of Doctor of Laws from the Western Reserve University, 
from Brown, and from Princeton; was invited to Harvard 
for that purpose in 1901 but was prevented from going by 
a domestic bereavement. 

4089 — OI 4 39 



4C History and Functions of the Department of State. 

David Jayne Hill, Assistant Secretary of State, was 
born in Plainfield, N. J., June 10, 1850; was graduated 
from Bucknell University (Pennsylvania) in 1874, with the 
degree of A. B.; and in 1877 with the degree of A. M.; 
received the degree of LL. D. from Colgate University; 
studied at the Universities of Berlin and Paris; was presi- 
dent of Bucknell University (Pennsylvania), 1 879-1 888, and 
of the University of Rochester (New York), 1 888-1 896, 
which latter position he resigned to pursue the study of 
public law of Europe, to which he devoted two years; was 
appointed Assistant Secretary of State October 2, 1898, 
while residing in Holland, and entered upon his duties on 
October 25. 

Dr. Hill began his work of authorship at the age of 16, 
his first attempt being a campaign life of General Grant. 
His text-books on rhetoric have been used in even- State 
and Territory, and his biographies of Irving and Bryant 
won for him reputation as a literary critic at the age of 25. 
Later he devoted himself to the abstract sciences, preparing 
text-books for colleges on logic and psychology as well as 
works on economics, socialogy, and philosophy. 

In 1896 he introduced into campaign literature the idea 
of the serious pamphlet constructed upon the model of a 
text-book, and his Primer of Finance had a wide influence 
in diffusing scientific ideas on the subject of money. In 
1900 his pamphlets on the questions of the currency and 
imperialism were published in large editions in both English 
and German. 

He is a member of the Authors Club of New York, the 
Sons of the American Revolution, and many scientific and 
literary societies. 

During his residence abroad he made use of the libraries 
and archives of Europe in careful researches in diplomatic 
history, a subject upon which he has delivered courses of 
lectures in the School of Comparative Jurisprudence and 




DAVID J. HILL. 




ALVEY A. ADEE. 




THOMAS W. CRIDLER. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 41 

Diplomacy at Washington. Since his resignation from the 
University of Rochester he has been offered the presidency 
of other universities, which honors he has declined. He 
has, however, delivered many public addresses upon aca- 
demic occasions. 

Alvey Augustus Adee, Second Assistant Secretary of 
State, was born in Astoria, N. Y., November 27, 1842; was 
prepared for college by private tutors, and was graduated 
from Yale with the degree of M. A.; was appointed Sec- 
retary of Legation at Madrid September 9, 1870, and was 
Charge d' Affaires at different times; was transferred from 
Madrid and appointed a clerk of class 4 in the Department 
of State July 9, 1877; was made Chief of the Diplomatic 
Bureau June 11, 1878; became Third Assistant Secretary of 
State July 18, 1882; and was appointed Second Assistant 
Secretary of State August 3, 1886. Mr. Adee has been a 
close student of Shakespeare and is an acknowledged au- 
thority on his writings. 

Thomas Wilbur Cridler, Third Assistant Secretary of 
State, was born at Harpers Ferry, W. Va., November 13, 
1850; was educated in the common schools of Virginia and 
the public schools of Washington; entered the Department 
of State July 1, 1875, as a clerk; passed through the vari- 
ous grades and became chief of the Diplomatic Bureau July 
15, 1889; was special disbursing agent of the monetary 
commission which met at Brussels, Belgium, in 1892; was 
appointed Third Assistant Secretary of State April 8, 1897. 
Mr. Cridler was present at the signing of the Spanish- 
American peace protocol, and was special commissioner of 
the United States to the Paris Exposition, 1900. He has 
visited Europe several times on special duty by direction of 
the Secretary of State. 



CHIEF CLERK'S OFFICE. 

William Henry Michael, Chief Clerk of the Depart- 
ment of State, was born in Marysville, Union County, Ohio, 
July 14, 1845; removed with his parents to Iowa when 5 
years of age; was educated in the common school, Bacon's 
College, Cincinnati, Ohio, and the State University of Iowa; 
taught school; enlisted in Company B, nth Iowa Infantry, 
September, 1861, and served one year, when he was honor- 
ably discharged on account of injuries received in battle; 
when sufficiently recovered to reenter the service was com- 
missioned in the Navy and served at the front in that 
branch of the service three years; was promoted for gallant 
conduct in battle upon the recommendation of the com- 
mander of his vessel and the Admiral commanding the 
squadron; resigned from the Navy in 1866, and was honor- 
ably discharged with thanks; was selected by the commis- 
sion appointed by the legislature of Iowa for a place on the 
monument erected in memory of the soldiers, sailors, and 
marines who served in the war of the rebellion from that 
State on account of his record for " long and gallant service." 

After an absence of five years on account of the war, Mr. 
Michael returned to school and entered the University of 
Iowa, w T here he remained till poor health, due to his Army 
and Navy service, compelled him to give up his course. He 
sought recuperation in the open air by engaging in land 
surveying. From that he drifted into journalism, first as a 
correspondent and then as editor; was city editor of the 
Daily (Iowa) Sioux City Journal, and subsequently editor 
and proprietor at different times of six prominent Republican 
newspapers in Nebraska; was admitted to the bar in 1880 
42 




WILLIAM H. MICHAEL. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 43 

and gave up journalism for the law. In 1876 he declined 
the nomination for Secretary of State of Nebraska; was 
alternate Presidential elector for that year, and canvassed 
the State thoroughly; was orator of the State Editors' Asso- 
ciation for three years; member of the Republican State 
central committee; member of the Congressional central 
committee; secretary many times of Republican State, and 
chairman of Congressional, conventions; in 1884 declined 
the position of United States Marshal for his State; in 
1887 accepted the position of Clerk of Printing Records> 
United States Senate, as the successor of Ben: Perley Poore, 
and held that position till tiie Democrats gained control 
in 1893; was editor and compiler of the Congressional 
Directory; editor of the Abridgment of Messages and Doc- 
uments, and clerk of the Joint Committee on Printing of the 
two Houses of Congress. 

Resumed the practice of law in 1894, and was engaged in 
one of the most celebrated cases involving the rights of 
adoptive parents and children ever tried in the United States. 
During this trial Mr. Michael wrote a treatise on the Rights 
of Adoptive Parents and Adoptive Children, the only work 
of the kind ever prepared. In 1895 again discharged the 
duties of editor of the Congressional Directory, the Abridg- 
ment of Messages and Documents, and the general work of 
the Printing Committee of the Senate. While thus con- 
nected with that body, he compiled and edited, under con- 
tract with the Senate, the Customs Laws of the United 
States from 1798 to 1897, and the " Laws of the United 
States Navy and Marine Corps, with annotations and refer- 
ences to decisions of the Federal courts and opinions of 
Attorneys-General, together with a digest of the decisions of 
the Federal courts and opinions of Attorneys-General con- 
struing United States statutes relating to the Navy and 
Marine Corps." 



44 History and Functions of the Departmeiit of State. 

In addition to his official work, Mr. Michael was corre- 
spondent for the Sionx City Daily Journal and the Iowa 
State Register, and contributed to magazines. He wrote a 
serial history of the Mississippi Squadron for the National 
Tribune. In 1888 he wrote for the Republican National 
Committee a book entitled Better Dead than Homeless, the 
object of which was to simplify the tariff question and make 
it attractive to persons unwilling to read speeches and pam- 
phlets on that subject. This book was largely circulated 
in cloth and paper cover in the campaign of 1888, and a 
second edition of nearly a million copies was circulated by 
the National Committee in 1892. This story was also run 
as a serial in several weeklies. 

In 1897 Mr. Michael was appointed Chief Clerk of the 
Department of State, which position he now holds. In 1896 
he was engaged by the Republican National Committee as 
a campaign writer, and a large edition of his speech on Sol- 
diers' and Sailors' Rights was circulated by the committee 
as a campaign document. His review of Bryan's record 
affecting the soldiers was considered effective in rallying 
the soldier and sailor element solidly to the support of the 
Republican ticket. In 1900 he wrote The Homesteader's 
Daughter, a Western story, in which all the questions of the 
campaign were reviewed. Mr. Michael is a member of the 
Military Order of the Loyal Legion, has been department 
commander in the Union Veterans' Union, is a member of 
the G. A. R., and an honorary member of other soldier 
organizations. He is interested in American National Red 
Cross work, and is a member of the National Board of Control 
of that international organization. He was representative 
of the Department of State on the Government Board of 
Management, Trans-Mississippi and International Exposi- 
tion at Omaha, Nebr., and occupies the same position in con- 
nection with the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, N. Y. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 45 

The Chief Clerk of the Department of State is its execu- 
tive officer under the direction of the Secretary of State. 
He has the general supervision of the clerks and employees 
and of the business of the Department. Each clerk is 
required to record the daily time of his arrival at and depar- 
ture from the Department, and at the end of each month 
these reports are filed with the Chief Clerk. No clerk is 
allowed to leave the building during office hours without 
the express permission of the Chief Clerk, who is thus in a 
position to know at all times what force he has available 
for the extra work the exigencies of the service may at any 
time call for. The absence from the Department of each 
clerk or employee is deducted from his annual leave of thirty- 
days allowed by law, unless absent on account of sickness. 

After the daily mail is received at the Department, 
opened, and indexed in the index room, as more completely 
set forth in the report of the Chief of the Bureau of Indexes 
and Archives (see page 74) it is placed on the Chief Clerk's 
desk, read by the Chief Clerk, and distributed among the 
Assistant Secretaries for their action. During the day the 
Chief Clerk receives all persons having business with the 
Department, other than those whose business is of such a 
character as to require the personal hearing of the Secretary 
of State or the Assistant Secretaries. It not unfrequently 
happens that the Chief Clerk is able to save the Secretary of 
State from much needless interruption by ascertaining and 
disposing of the business of visitors who would otherwise 
think it necessary to see the Secretary. Business of this 
character involves inquiries in regard to passports, extra- 
dition of criminals, publications of the State and other 
Departments; inquiries in regard to the applications for 
free entries by foreign ministers; inquiries on all subjects 
from members of the press; inquiries bearing on historical 
questions contained in the Revolutionary archives of the 



46 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

Department, and, in brief, all questions properly referable 
to the Department of State. 

After the Secretary and Assistant Secretaries have given 
(usually by written memorandum) their directions as to 
what action is to be taken by the Department upon the 
various written communications addressed to it, the mail is 
returned to the Chief Clerk's desk, and again by him dis- 
tributed to the bureaus charged with the execution of the 
instructions thus given. 

In the afternoon the mail prepared for the signature of 
the Secretary and Assistant Secretaries, and embodying 
their instructions, is delivered to the Chief Clerk, who reads 
it carefully and forwards it to the Secretary and Assistant 
Secretaries for their respective signatures. He also has 
charge of the copying and arrangement of correspondence 
called for by resolutions of Congress. The Chief Clerk is 
expected to be ready to answer the call of the Secretary and 
Assistant Secretaries and inquiries from chiefs of bureaus 
and clerks when more particular directions are required as 
to the disposition of work. It is the duty of the Chief Clerk 
to generally supervise the sending of the foreign mails from 
the Department, and to guard the privacy of the closed 
pouches, as it is also his duty to enforce discipline in mat- 
ters looking to the efficiency of the laborers and inuring to 
the general comfort of the Department. He is also charged 
with the duty of enciphering and deciphering all telegrams 
sent or received in cipher by the Department. 

The Chief Clerk has two clerks in his room who assist 
him in such manner each day as their services may seem to 
be most useful in the transaction of the public business. 




SYDNEY Y. SMITH. 



DIPLOMATIC BUREAU. 

SYDNEY Y. SMITH, Chief of Bureau. 

Sydney Yost Smith was born in the city of Washington 
November 28, 1857; entered the Department of State July 
1, 1 88 1, as a clerk of the $900 class; passed through the 
various grades of the service, and was appointed Chief of 
the Diplomatic Bureau April 8, 1897; during the intervening 
period acted in the capacity of private secretary to Secretaries 
Frelinghuysen, Blaine, and Foster, and as confidential clerk 
to Assistant Secretaries Davis, Porter, and Rives. 



The Diplomatic Bureau is charged, under the direction of 
the Secretary of State and his assistants, with the conduct 
of the diplomatic correspondence, both with the embassies 
and legations of the United States abroad and with the 
embassies and legations of foreign nations at Washington, 
and of the miscellaneous correspondence relating thereto. 

For the performance of its work the Bureau has one chief, 
three divisional clerks, one assistant, six typewriters, and 
one copyist. The correspondence with all the countries is 
under the supervision of the Chief of Bureau, divided among 
the divisional clerks as follows : 

a. Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ger- 
many, Great Britain, Greece, The Netherlands, Roumania, 
Servia, and Switzerland, and the miscellaneous correspond- 
ence relating to those countries. 

47 



48 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

b. Argentine Republic, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, 
Ecuador, Haiti, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Santo Do- 
mingo, Spain, Sweden and Norway, and Venezuela, and the 
miscellaneous correspondence relating to those countries. 

c. China, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, 
Korea, Liberia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Persia, Siam, and Tur- 
key, and other countries not assigned, and miscellaneous 
correspondence relating to those countries. 

The work divides itself, first, into the examination, consid- 
eration, and discussion of diplomatic questions, such as 
treaties, claims, questions of international law and policy, 
etc., and, second, purely routine matters, such as the prepa- 
ration of letters of credence and recall and other ceremonial 
letters, the reference of requests of foreign diplomatic agents 
in the United States for the free entry of articles sent them 
from abroad to the Treasury Department, and the answering 
of the many inquiries received relating to the status of mat- 
ters before the Department. The preparations of papers 
called for by resolutions of Congress is also largely per- 
formed by this Bureau, and the preparation of treaties for 
signatures. 

The incoming correspondence is received from the Chief 
Clerk. Each paper on reaching the Bureau is stamped with 
the date of its receipt, examined by the chief of the Bureau, 
and turned over with appropriate directions to the proper 
divisional clerk. The action taken by him is indorsed on 
the paper, when it is returned to the chief of the Bureau. 
By 1 2 o'clock the outgoing mail for the day is ready for the 
Secretary's attention and signature and is sent to the Chief 
Clerk for that purpose. It returns signed about two hours 
later, in time, as a rule, to be press copied and put up for 
the evening mail at 4, each divisional clerk attending to the 
correspondence of his respective countries. The hours of 
the afternoon are occupied in preparing the mail for the 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 49 

following morning. The typewriters, some of whom are 
also employed as translators, are steadily occupied all day 
in copying and comparing the work allotted to them, with 
occasional assistance from copyists in other bureaus. 

The chief of the Bureau in the meantime verifies the 
copies of the preceding day's mail; checks them off on the 
papers to which they are replies, sending both to the index 
bureau to be filed; reads over, distributes, and gives direc- 
tions concerning the new matter which is constantly arriv- 
ing, and perforins such personal duties as are necessary to 
avoid interrupting the divisional clerks too much in their 
work, besides investigating and reporting upon such matters 
as are directly referred to him by the Secretary and Assistant 
Secretaries. 



CONSULAR BUREAU. 

ROBERT S. CHILTON, Jr., Chief of Bureau. 

Robert S. Chieton, Jr., Chief of the Consular Bureau, 
was born in Washington, D. C, 1861; resided in Canada from 
1 87 1 to 1877 with his father, who at that time was consul 
at Clifton, Ontario; entered Consular Bureau in 1877 as a 
clerk and received various promotions; resigned fourth-class 
clerkship in 1889 to accept appointment as private secretary 
to Vice-President Levi P. Morton; resigned this position near 
the end of Mr. Morton's term to accept appointment as Chief 
Clerk of the Department of State; was reduced to fourth- 
class clerkship upon change of administration; later sent to 
Turkey to open newly established consulate at Erzerum, 
but through refusal of Turkish Government to grant exe- 
quatur was unable to get beyond Trebizond. While in 
Turkey was appointed Chief of the Consular Bureau and 
ordered home; made a tour of inspection of consulates in 
1896 and 1897, visiting Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Europe, 
Egypt, Ceylon, Singapore, China, Japan, and Honolulu. 



The Consular Bureau has charge of all correspondence 
with consular officers, and incidental thereto of correspond- 
ence with the several Executive Departments, the account- 
ing officers of the Treasury, and with individuals, on subjects 
which in some way relate to or involve the services of con- 
sular officers. The correspondence is of a varied character 
50 




ROBERT S. CHILTON, JR. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 51 

and is difficult to describe; but it may be said generally to 
include instructions to consular officers in regard to com- 
mercial matters, relief, protection, and accounts of seamen, 
the protection of United States citizens abroad, the settle- 
ment of estates of Americans dying abroad, sanitary reports 
and inspections of vessels, undervaluation of goods, certifi- 
cations of invoices, accounts for salary and expenses, etc., 
and correspondence incidental thereto with Departments and 
individuals. 

In addition to its correspondence the Consular Bureau is 
much occupied with personal interviews with consular 
officers while in Washington on their way to their posts or 
on leave of absence, and with retiring consuls who come to 
Washington to settle their accounts. The interviews are 
usually with the Chief of the Bureau, whose duty it is to 
give all necessary instructions to newly appointed consuls, 
and to answer questions of others who call in regard to 
matters connected with the consular service. This branch 
of the work is especially heavy when, through a change of 
Administration, many consuls are passing through the city 
going to or returning from their posts. The Chief of the 
Bureau is a member of the board of examination for con- 
sular appointments, and under his direction all examina- 
tions are prepared and conducted. This duty adds very 
materially to the work of the Bureau. The examinations 
proper are usually in writing, but the applicants are all 
informally questioned orally. The Bureau is expected also 
to have an intimate knowledge of the personnel of the serv- 
ice and to be prepared to give information in regard thereto 
when desired by the Secretary or Assistant Secretaries, and 
it is constantly called upon in such matters when appoint- 
ments are being made. 

In time of Avar with a foreign country consular officers 
are required to watch and report the movements of the 



52 History and Fnnctiojis of the Department of State. 

enemy's ships, to report and prevent, if possible, the fitting- 
ont of privateers and other infractions of neutrality laws, to 
carry out instructions for the purchase of coal and other 
supplies for our vessels, and generally to do everything in 
their power to aid the Government in carrying on the war. 
This involves much correspondence with consuls, by cable 
and through the mails, of a delicate and strictly confiden- 
tial nature. 

The estimates for appropriations and explanatory letters 
to Congress are also prepared by the Chief of the Bureau, 
and allowances for clerks, messengers, interpreters, guards, 
marshals, etc., are made on his recommendations. 

The consular service embraces in all about 800 officers, 
scattered over all the world, and about half of these corre- 
spond directly with the Department. The subjects embraced 
in this vast correspondence are varied, and the daily mail 
is an interesting budget of information from all quarters of 
the earth. Now that American enterprise is reaching out to 
distant lands for markets for its manufactures the consular 
service is becoming daily of greater importance, and much 
of the benefit to be derived from it as a means of extending- 
and protecting our interests abroad depends upon the man- 
agement of the Consular Bureau. 

All communications received from consuls are first indexed 
by the Bureau of Indexes and Archives, and the more impor- 
tant ones read by the Assistant Secretary having charge of 
consular matters. The dispatches then come to this Bureau, 
where they are read by the chief of the Bureau, who indi- 
cates the reply to be made to such as have not already had 
replies indicated by the Assistant Secretary. The dis- 
patches, except those relating to appointments, allowances, 
and supplies, are then distributed by the chief of the Bureau 
to the correspondence clerks, each of whom is charged with 
the preparation of all correspondence with consular offices 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 53 

in countries assigned to him. The work is now in charge 
of three clerks, and is divided as follows : 

1. Correspondence with Germany and Great Britain and 
their dependencies, together with the miscellaneous corre- 
spondence connected therewith. 

2. Correspondence with Argentine Republic, Austria- 
Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Greece, Italy, 
Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, 
Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Uruguay, and their 
dependencies, together with the miscellaneous correspond- 
ence connected therewith. 

3. Correspondence with the Barbary States, Bolivia, Cen- 
tral America, Colombia, China, Ecuador, Egypt, France, 
Friendly and Navigators Islands, Haiti, Japan, Liberia, 
Madagascar, Mexico, Mascat, Santo Domingo, Siam, Tur- 
key, Venezuela, and other countries unassigned, with their 
dependencies, together with the miscellaneous correspond- 
ence connected therewith. 

Each clerk conducts the correspondence of which he has 
charge, drafts the replies to be made to the dispatches, has 
them typewritten in the form of instructions, and then sub- 
mits them to the Chief of the Bureau for approval, after 
which the}' are sent to the Chief Clerk of the Department, 
who distributes them among the proper officials for signa- 
ture. In case it is necessary, the Chief of the Bureau or the 
clerk in charge of a division of correspondence prepares a 
report on the history of a subject to which a dispatch relates. 
The report, accompanied by the previous correspondence on 
the subject, is then submitted to the Assistant Secretary, by 
whom a decision is made as to the action to be taken. The 
report is then returned to the Bureau and an appropriate 
reply is prepared. In matters of importance the reports and 
instructions are prepared by the Chief of the Bureau. 

After the instructions and letters have been signed they 



54 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

are indexed by the Bureau of Indexes and Archives and 
returned to the Consular Bureau, where they are placed in 
charge of a clerk, under whose supervision they are press, 
copied and mailed. To this clerk is also assigned the duty 
of recording bonds, sending out circulars to consular officers, 
and duties of a like nature. 

The replies to all communications relating to appoint- 
ments, allowances to consulates in the way of messenger 
service and clerk hire, leaves of absence, supplies, etc., are 
drafted by a clerk who has charge of the correspondence in 
regard to such matters, and who keeps a record of all nota- 
rial fees received by consuls, a record of leaves of absence 
of consuls, together with their whereabouts while on leave, 
and a record of the dates of transfer of consular offices to 
new appointees. 

Requests for information on commercial matters are at 
frequent intervals received from the Bureau of Foreign 
Commerce, and are by the Consular Bureau put into the 
form of instructions and sent to consular officers. The 
replies of consular officers to these instructions are, when 
received, sent to the Bureau of Foreign Commerce for 
publication in Consular Reports or transmission to other 
Departments. 

In like manner requests from other Executive Depart- 
ments for information on various subjects are by the Con- 
sular Bureau transmitted to consular officers, and their 
replies in turn sent to the Departments by which the infor- 
mation was requested. 

The Consular Bureau has charge also of recommending 
the presentation of testimonials to masters and seamen of 
foreign vessels for rescuing American seamen, in case of 
wreck or other mishap to an American vessel. 




THOMAS MORRISON. 



BUREAU OF ACCOUNTS. 

THOMAS MORRISON, Chief of Bureau. 

Thomas Morrison, Chief of the Bureau of Accounts 
and Disbursing Clerk of the Department of State, was born 
in Quebec, Canada, in 1843; removed at the age of 10 with 
his parents to Ohio; received a public school and academic 
education at Milan, Ohio. Served as clerk and telegrapher 
in the office of the train dispatcher of the Sandusky, Day- 
ton and Cincinnati R. R. in Sandusky, Ohio; was member 
of Douglas Light Infantry of Urbana, Ohio, which company 
formed part of Second Ohio Regiment in brigade under 
General Schenck; served under General Schenck in three 
months' service, after which he entered the Army of the 
Potomac, and served in it, and on detached duty during the 
war under Generals McClellan, Fitz John Porter, Rufus 
King, Franklin, Ingalls, and Grant. After the battle of 
Malvern Hill was ordered from Harrisons Landing, Va., to 
Jamestown Island, James River, in command of company 
of detailed men with material to construct a telegraph line 
between the island and Williamsburg, Va., and open up 
communication by wire with Washington via Fortress 
Monroe, and by dispatch boat from the island to the com- 
manding officer at Harrisons Landing; returned to the island 
after communication was -established with Fort Monroe, and 
remained there till the evacuation of the Peninsula; was 
ordered to Washington from Yorktown for special duty at 
the War Department and at the Washington Arsenal, and 

55 



56 History and Functions of the Depiriment of State. 

served at both places until assigned to duty at General 
Grant's headquarters at City Point. Served under General 
Grant till the close of the war. Located at Millers Place, 
Suffolk County, N. Y., immediately after the war, from which 
place he entered the Department of State, at Washington, at 
$1,200 per annum; was promoted successively to $1,600 and 
$1,800. Had charge of and examination for approval of 
all the diplomatic and consular accounts, bills of exchange 
of ministers and consuls, and the preparation of the same 
for payment; was also in charge of the telegraph bureau of 
the Department; was promoted to chief of the Bureau of 
Accounts and disbursing clerk in April, 1900. 



The Bureau of Accounts has the supervision and records 
of all moneys and appropriations, and accounts therefor, 
received and disbursed by direction of the Secretary of State 
or subject to his control. Such accounts may be classified 
under the following heads: 

1. International indemnities or trust funds. 

2. Diplomatic and consular accounts. 

3. Accounts of the Department proper. 

In addition to the foregoing classes of accounts, this 
Bureau has charge of — 

4. Passports. 

All moneys received by the United States from foreign 
governments as indemnities are paid to the Department of 
State. Under an act approved February 27, 1896, all moneys 
received by the Secretary of State from foreign governments 
and other sources, in trust for citizens of the United States 
or others, are covered into the Treasury of the United States. 
The amounts due claimants respectively from each of such 
trust funds are determined in the Bureau of Accounts, and 
the amounts as found due are certified by the Secretary of 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 57 

State to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment. A 
complete record of the receipts and disbursements on account 
of these funds is kept. 

The accounts of ministers for salary and contingent 
expenses; the salary accounts of secretaries of legations and 
charges; the accounts of consuls for contingent expenses, 
clerk hire, compensation of interpreters and guard, etc., and 
all accounts of ministers and consuls for expenses incurred 
in pursuance of special authorization or by reason of emer- 
gencies in the service are approved by the Secretary of 
State, or one of the Assistant Secretaries, before being sent 
to the accounting officers of the Treasury for final settle- 
ment. The approval is not given until it has been ascer- 
tained by an examination in this Bureau that the accounts 
are in every detail in accordance with law and regulations. 
A complete record of these accounts is entered upon the 
books of the Bureau. Those of the United States ministers 
and consuls who have not been given letters of credit upon 
the United States bankers in London make drafts upon the 
Secretary of State in settlement of these accounts, which 
drafts are recorded in this Bureau, and requisitions for the 
amounts are drawn upon the Secretary of the Treasury in 
payment thereof. 

The chief - of this Bureau is also the disbursing clerk 
of the Department, and as such disburses the various depart- 
mental appropriations made by Congress. The regular offi- 
cers, clerks, and employees of the Department are paid their 
salary on the last day of each month. Upon the completion 
of the services rendered by a special employee, or delivery of 
articles purchased upon an order of the Secretary of State, 
a bill for such services or articles purchased is presented to 
the Department and referred to the Bureau of Accounts, 
where it is transcribed on a regular form of voucher, upon 
which the appropriation against which the amount is to be 
-01 6 



58 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

charged is designated, and the voucher is then transmitted 
to the payee for signature, and, after being approved by the 
proper officer of the Department, a check in payment is 
mailed to the payee by the disbursing clerk. The voucher 
is then properly indorsed and entered upon the books of the 
Bureau. 

Monthly accounts are rendered by the disbursing clerk to 
the Treasury Department for all expenditures of this nature 
under each appropriation against which charges have been 
made. 

All applications for passports made in this country, 
whether by mail or in person, are examined, necessary 
correspondence upon the subject prepared, and the passports 
issued in the passport division of this Bureau. Under the 
law passports are granted only to citizens of the United 
States; therefore the citizenship of all applicants is neces- 
sarily passed on in the examination of the applications. 
The passports are numbered consecutively, and the applica- 
tion bears the number of the passport. A new series of 
numbers is started with each Administration. People who 
contemplate procuring passports are furnished, upon request, 
with the rules governing applications, and with blank forms 
of application. The law requires that a fee of $1 be charged 
for each passport issued, and that the moneys received be 
deposited in the Treasury of the United States. 

Duplicates of all applications upon which passports have 
been granted by our diplomatic and consular officers abroad 
are examined and filed here, arid a report is made whenever 
a passport appears to have been improperly granted. A 
record of all passports issued at home or abroad is kept, 
and extends back for a hundred years. 

The telegraphic work of the Department is performed by 
the clerks of this Bureau. The bulk of the messages, in 
quantity, though not in number, is in cipher. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 59 

The seal of the Department is in the custody of this 
Bureau, and a record is kept of all authentications of Fed- 
eral and State seals to which it is affixed. 

The chief of this Bureau is charged with the care of the 
property of the Department. 



BUREAU OF ROLLS AND LIBRARY. 

ANDREW H. ALLEN, Chief of Bureau. 

Andrew Hussey Allen, Chief of the Bureau of Rolls 
and Library, was bom in New York, N. Y., December 6, 1855; 
was educated at private schools, at Phillips Academy, 
Andover, Mass., and graduated with degree of A. B. at 
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., June, 1878; studied 
law for one year at the Law School of Columbia College, 
New York, and in the offices of Arnoux, Rich, and Woodford; 
admitted to practice by the supreme court of North Caro- 
lina, but never practiced; appointed clerk in the State De- 
partment at $900 September 15, 1880; class 1 May 1, 1881; 
appointed disbursing agent of the Court of Commissioners 
of Alabama Claims July 20, 1882, and served till the dis- 
solution of the court, December 31, 1885; coufidential clerk 
to the Second Assistant Secretary of State Ma ch 13, 1890, 
at $1,200; appointed representative of the Department of 
State on the United States Board on Geographic Names 
July 11, 1890; confidential clerk to the Second Assistant 
Secretary of State December 8, 1890, at $1,400; appointed 
Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library June 12, 1892. 



The Bureau of Rolls and Library, as its name indicates, 
comprises two divisions — the rolls and the library. 

The rolls division is charged with the promulgation and 
custody of the laws and treaties of the United States, and 
60 




ANDREW H. ALLEN. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 6r 

the proclamations, Executive orders, and Executive an- 
nouncements of the Presidents, as well as with the care of 
the files and records of international claims commissions, 
the Revolutionary archives and other manuscript papers, and 
with the correspondence relating to these several collections. 

The first and most important duty of this division is the 
promulgation (publication) of the laws, treaties, proclama- 
tions, and Executive orders, work which must be performed 
with the utmost attainable promptness, speed, and accuracy. 

There are three methods under the Constitution by which 
legislation of Congress may be enacted: 

First. By the passage of a bill embodying the provisions 
of the projected law by both Houses of Congress, and its 
approval by the President. This is the usual course. 

Secondly. By the passage of such a measure by both 
Houses of Congress and by the failure of the President to 
return it unsigned, while Congress is in session, to the House 
in which it originated, within ten days (Sundays excepted) 
after it shall have been presented for his approval. Should 
he fail to return it within the constitutional period of ten 
days, Congress being continuously in session, and fail to 
approve it, the bill becomes a law by what is known as con- 
stitutional limitation. There are certain apparently tech- 
nical exceptions to this rule, which will be noticed later 
when the subject of so-called "pocketed laws" is reached. 

Thirdly. A bill may become law by its passage by both 
Houses of Congress over the President's veto. 

When enacted by the first method, the law is sent 
promptly, after the President has signed it, over to the 
Department of State, where it is received and stamped with 
a date stamp by the Chief Clerk, who, in turn, sends it with- 
out delay to the Bureau of Rolls. 

When perfected by the second method, the law, at the 
moment of its completion, being in the hands of the Presi- 



62 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

dent, is sent to the Department of State with a letter from 
one of the President'^ secretaries reciting the circumstances 
under which the bill has become law. Such laws are gen- 
erally sent to the Department the day after the expiration 
of the constitutional ten days, and are treated upon receipt 
with the same promptness as that described in the case of 
laws under the first method. 

But when the President vetoes a bill and the two Houses 
of Congress pass it by a two-thirds vote over the veto, the 
perfected law is sent to the Department of State by the 
presiding officer of the House of Congress in which it is 
last passed over the veto, bearing the certificates of the 
Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House, recit- 
ing the facts of the veto and the passage of the act there- 
over in the respective Houses. 

Until 1894 the laws were engrossed for signature in 
manuscript upon parchment; but on November 1, 1893, 
Congress provided by a joint resolution that they should be 
printed upon parchment for the signatures of the presiding 
officers of the two Houses, the approval of the President, 
and for permanent preservation — a change of form which 
has greatly simplified their promulgation. A subsequent 
concurrent resolution of Congress excepted the last six days 
of a session from the operation of this law whenever the 
necessity might arise. 

When the perfected law is received by the Bureau of 
Rolls it is immediately taken up, to the exclusion of all 
other business and without regard to office hours, Sundays, 
or holidays, and is designated, according to the'nature of its 
provisions, as a public or private act, or a public or private 
resolution, and a serial number is assigned to it, the series 
of numbers running through a session of Congress. It is 
then entered by its title in a register, together with its serial 
number, the date of its approval, and the number of the bill, 



History and Functions of the Departme7it of State. 63 

Senate or House, upon which it was framed. A facsimile 
copy of the law — three copies of which, " pulled " from the 
type as set from the original act, have been previously sent 
to the Bureau — is immediately dispatched to the Public 
Printer, with a requisition to print it in slip (fly-leaf or 
pamphlet) form, under sections 210, 3803, and 3805 of the 
Revised Statutes of the United States, and section 56 of the 
public-printing act of January 12, 1895, anc ^ to furnish the 
Department with as man}' copies as are required up to the 
statutory limit of 500. This requisition, signed by the Chief 
of the Bureau and countersigned by the Chief Clerk of the 
Department, is numbered and entered in a register called 
Register of Copy and Proof of the Laws. The Printer pro- 
ceeds, under the sections of law cited, to set type for the act 
or resolution with all possible speed, and to send proof to 
the Bureau, where it is immediately read with the original, 
with the utmost rapidity consistent with unconditional 
accuracy. If any errors are found they are corrected and 
the proof is returned to the Printer, who sends a revise — 
this course being pursued and a record kept until a clean 
proof is reached, when the order to print is given. 

The Bureau, as the slip laws are received, makes a subject 
index of them for official use, in addition to the registers 
already mentioned. 

The prints of the " slip laws " being received, copies of 
all, as they come in, certified under the sign manual of the 
Chief of the Bureau, are sent to the Treasury Department, 
the Chief of Engineers of the Army, and the Interior Depart- 
ment; and uncertified copies are held read)' for distribution 
to officers of the Government and others entitled to or requir- 
ing them for immediate use. Copies of laws required for 
use in court are usually certified under the signature of the 
Secretary of State and the seal of the Department. 

Other sources of supply for copies of the slip laws as pub- 



I* 



».«'• 



64 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

lished by the Department are the document rooms of the 
two Houses of Congress, where quotas are held subject to 
the disposal of Senators, Representatives, and Delegates in 
Congress. Copies of the slip laws are also sent by the Pub- 
lic Printer to the Treasury Department for official use. 

Bills that become laws by the President's approval are 
published in the following form: 

[Public— No. 54.] 

AN ACT To amend section forty-eight hundred and twenty-nine of the United States 
Revised Statutes concerning surgeons, assistant surgeons, and other medical officers 
of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That section forty-eight hun- 
dred and twenty-nine of the Revised Statutes of the United States be 
amended by the addition of the following words: "Provided, That sur- 
geons, assistant surgeons, and other medical officers of the National Home 
for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and the several Branches thereof, may be 
appointed from others than those who have been disabled in the military 
service of the United States." 

Approved, February 9, 1897. 

Those that become laws by " Constitutional limitation " 
are printed with a note by the Bureau, thus: 

[Public — No. 179.J 

AN ACT Amending the act of June eighth, eighteen hundred and eighty, entitled 
"An act to authorize the President to appoint an officer of the Navy or the Marine 
Corps to perform the duties of solicitor and judge-advocate-general, and so forth, and 
to fix the rank and pay of such officer," and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the act "to authorize the 
President to appoint an officer of the Navy or the Marine Corps to perform 
the duties of solicitor and judge-advocate-general, and so forth, and to fix 
the rank and pay of such officer," approved June eighth, eighteen hun- 
dred and eighty, is hereby amended by inserting in said act in lieu of the 
words "with the rank, pay, and allowances of a captain in the Navy, or a 
colonel in the Marine Corps, as the case may be," the words "with the 
rank and highest pay of a captain in the Navy, or the rank, pay, and allow- 
ances of a colonel in the Marine Corps, as the case may be:" Provided, 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 65 

That this amendment shall take effect from July nineteenth, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-two, the date on which the present incumbent entered 
on duty, and that the amount herein appropriated shall be payable from 
the appropriation " Pay of the Navy." 
Received by the President, May 25, 1896. 

[Note by the Department of State. — The foregoing act having 
been presented to the President of the United States for his approval, and 
not having been returned by him to the house of Congress in which it 
originated within the time prescribed by the Constitution of the United 
States, has become a law without his approval.] 

Bills becoming laws by passage over the President's veto 
are promulgated in this form, with certificates : 

[Public — No. 52.] 

AN ACT To constitute a new division of the eastern judicial district of Texas, and to 
provide for the holding of terms of court at Beaumont, Texas, and for the appoint- 
ment of a clerk for said court. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the counties of Jefferson, 
Orange, Newton, Jasper, Hardin, Liberty, Tyler, San Augustine, Sabine, 
Polk, and San Jacinto shall constitute a division of the eastern judicial 
district of Texas. 

SEC. 2. That terms of the circuit and district courts of the United States 
for the said eastern district of the State of Texas shall be held twice in 
each year at the city of Beaumont, on the first Mondays in June and 
December. 

SEC. 3. That all civil process issued against persons resident in the said 
counties of Jefferson, Orange, Newton, Jasper, Hardin, Liberty, Tyler, San 
Augustine, Sabine, Polk, and San Jacinto, and cognizable before the United 
States courts, shall be made returnable to the courts, respectively, to be 
held at the city of Beaumont; and all prosecutions for offenses committed 
in either of said counties shall be tried in the appropriate United States 
court at the city of Beaumont : Provided, That no process issued or pros- 
ecution commenced or suit instituted before the passage of this act shall 
be in any way affected by the provisions hereof. 

SEC. 4. That the clerks of the circuit and district courts for said district 
shall maintain an office in charge of themselves or a deputy at said city of 
Beaumont, which shall be kept open at all times for the transaction of the 
business of said division. 

Sec. 5. That so much of all acts or parts of acts as are in conflict here- 
with are hereby repealed. 



66 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

In the House of Representatives, 

January 22, 1897. 

The President of the United States having returned to the House of 
Representatives in which it originated the bill (H. R. 9469) "An act to 
constitute a new division of the eastern judicial district of Texas, and 
to provide for the holding of terms of court at Beaumont, Texas, and for 
the appointment of a clerk for said court," with his objections thereto, 
the House proceeded in pursuance of the Constitution to reconsider the 
same ; and 

Resolved, That the said bill pass, two-thirds of the House of Representa- 
tives agreeing to pass the same. 

Attest: A. McDowell, Clerk, 

In the Senate of the United States, 

February 8, 1897. 

The Senate having proceeded, in pursuance of the Constitution, to 
reconsider the bill entitled "An act to constitute a new division of the 
eastern judicial district of Texas, and to provide for the holding of terms 
of court at Beaumont, Texas, and for the appointment of a clerk for said 
court," returned to the House of Representatives by the President of the 
United States, with his objections, and sent by the House of Representa- 
tives to the Senate, with the message of the President returning the bill : 

Resolved, That the bill do pass, two-thirds of the Senate agreeing to 
pass the same. 

Attest : Wm. R. Cox, Secretary. 

The business of receiving, caring for, and promulgating 
the laws has been reduced to a system every detail of which 
is of importance to the avoidance of confusion and error; 
and whether the proof be read at comparative ease during 
office hours without interruption, or under stress through 
hours that are long, continuous, and late, errors in the slip 
laws, however trivial, have become all but unknown. An 
error in a law is any deviation, however slight, from the 
original act — which must be reproduced in published form 
exactly as enacted. 

The lawmaking power alone can correct errors, even the 
most trifling, in the original law — and then only by the 
enactment of another law for the purpose. 

An editor of the Statutes, appointed by the Secretary of 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 67 

State, compiles the laws enacted at each session of Congress 
for publication, with an index, in pamplet form, and at the 
end of each Congress che same officer compiles the laws of 
the several sessions for publication with an index in the 
regular volume of the Statutes at Large. The Bureau of 
Rolls again reads the text of the laws for these publications 
in order to be able to guarantee absolute accuracy. 

A pocketed law, so called, is really not a law at all, but a 
bill which has failed to become a law because presented to 
the President for approval within less than the constitu- 
tional ten days (during which he might return it not 
approved) before adjournment of Congress. His failure to 
return it to the House in which it originated within the pe- 
riod allowed him by the Constitution is thus regarded as due 
to the fact that Congress adjourned before the period expired. 
His failure to sign it under such circumstances is regarded 
as equivalent to a veto, which is called a "pocket veto," so 
the law fails, and the President notes the conditions upon 
it under his signature. For the purposes of Executive 
action respecting the laws the adjournment of Congress for 
the so-called recess during the Christmas holidays may be 
treated as an adjournment or as merely a recess. When 
treated as an adjournment, laws not signed by the President 
prior to the date of such adjournment, when presented to 
him within ten days theretofore, fail by pocket veto. The 
adjournment for the holidays is treated as a recess by the 
President when he approves a bill or resolution during the 
recess. 

All the original laws are bound, at the end of each session 
of Congress, in volumes of uniform or nearly uniform size 
for permanent preservation. 

Treaties with other powers are promulgated in a slip form 
similar to that of the laws, as well as published in the Stat- 
utes at Large — the President proclaiming them as the final 



68 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

act prior to publication. The process of promulgation is in 
all respects like that of the publication of the laws. Both 
the original and the exchange copy of every perfected treaty 
is preserved in the bureau of rolls, as are also all proclama- 
tions, Executive orders, and Executive announcements that 
come to the Department of State, after their promulgation 
as described in the case of the laws. All such instruments 
have the right of way immediately upon their arrival in the 
office. 

Proclamations, Executive orders, and Executive announce- 
ments are accurately and promptly printed on foolscap paper, 
for limited distribution on demand, immediately upon receipt 
by the bureau of rolls, but only the proclamations are 
reprinted in the volumes of Session Laws and Statutes at 
Large. 

The Revolutionary archives and other so-called historical 
manuscript collections in the bureau of rolls and Library 
are: J 

Volumes. 
The records and papers of the Continental Congress (old binding, 

folio) 307 

The Washington papers (old binding, folio) 2 336 

The Madison papers (new binding, quarto) 75 

The Jefferson papers (old binding, quarto) 137 

The Hamilton papers (old binding, folio) 65 

The Monroe papers (new binding, quarto) 22 

The Franklin papers (new binding, quarto) 32 

Papers of the Quartermaster-General's Department during the Revo- 
lutionary period and later (old binding, and loose papers). 3 

1 This enumeration does not include papers received in the course of the business of 
the Department, properly a part of its official files. The records of the war of 1812 in 
this bureau, consisting of papers received in the course of business, through the exer- 
cise of particular functions, and limited in volume, form a part of the official files of 
the Department. 

2 Thirty-seven of these volumes, "Army returns," restored and rebound were trans- 
ferred to the War Department under the act of August 18, 1894, on the 24th of November, 
1S94. 

3 Received from the War Department March and April, 1888. Returned November 
24, 1S94, with the "Army returns." 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 69 

The papers enumerated were thus acquired: 

The records and papers of the Continental Congress, deposited with the 
Secretary of State under the acts of Congress of July 27, 1789, and Sep- 
tember 15, 1789, entitled, respectively — 

An act for establishing an Executive Department to be denominated 
the Department of Foreign Affairs. 

An act to provide for the safe-keeping of the acts, records, and seal of 
the United States, and for other purposes. 

The Washington papers, bought, in two parts, under the 
acts of June 30, 1834, and March 3, 1849 (thirty-seven vol- 
umes from this collection were lately transferred to the War 
Department. Cf. note supra), entitled, respectively — 

An act to enable the Secretary of State to purchase the papers and 
books of General Washington. 

An act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of 
Government for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred 
and fifty, and for other purposes. 

The Madison papers, bought under the act of May 31, 

1848, entitled— M 

An act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of 
Government for the year ending the thirtieth day of June, one thousand 
eight hundred and forty-nine, and for other purposes. 

The Hamilton papers, bought under the act of August 12, 
1848; the Monroe papers, bought under the act of March 3, 

1849, an d the Franklin papers, bought under the act of 
August 7, 1882, entitled — 

An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Govern- 
ment for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and 
eighty-three, and for other purposes. 

* * * To enable the Secretary of State to purchase the manuscript 
papers of Benjamin Franklin, and the collection of books, and so forth, 
known as the Franklin collection, belonging to Henry Stevens, of London, 
thirty -five thousand dollars; the printed books, pamphlets, and newspapers, 
and one of the typewriter copies of the manuscripts to be deposited in the 
Library of Congress, and the residue to be preserved in the Department of 
State. 

Approved, August 7, 1882. 




70 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

The papers of the Quartermaster-General's Department of 
the Revolutionary period and later were transferred to this 
Department from the War Department in March and April, 
1888. According to the list accompanying them, they com- 
prise 68 "orderly books," 78 "miscellaneous books," etc., 
24 books relating to military accounts in the Quartermaster's 
Department, 14 "small memorandum books," 73 file boxes 
containing- papers not numbered. Besides the papers enu- 
merated in the list there was a large bundle of papers of a 
miscellaneous character, unindexed and unnumbered. Under 
the act of August 18, 1894, the papers from the Quartermas- 
ter-General's Office were returned to the War Department. 

The Bureau being charged with the care of these archives 
performs that duty by restoring, mounting and binding 
them, and by the publication of a bulletin. 

The restoration involves a strengthening of each paper 
requiring it, and the piecing out of ragged edges, by a trained 
process. 

The mountings comprise the attachment of each paper 
to a linen hinge, which is in turn affixed to a sheet of heavy 
" ledger paper," also provided with a linen hinge. 

The binding is in volumes of half leather and cloth, of a 
weight not too great to bear handling, and of the size and 
shape of a large quarto. 

Other work in the line of preservation is comprehended 
in calendars and indexes of the several collections. 

The bulletin mentioned (called " Bulletin of the Bureau 
of Rolls and Library of the Department of State ") was 
inaugurated in September, 1893, for the purpose of publish- 
ing this index work, together with certain special papers 
Eight numbers have already appeared. 

No. 1, September 1, 1893, contains a list of the volumes 
comprising the Papers of the Continental Congress, the 
beginning of a miscellaneous index of those papers, and an 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 71 

appendix commencing the publication of the documentary 
history of the Constitution of the United States, with the 
proceedings of the Annapolis Convention. 

No. 2, November, 1893, contains a new edition of the 
Calendar of the Correspondence of James Monroe, with 
corrections and additions. 

No. 3, January, 1894, contains a list of the volumes of the 
Washington papers, a continuation of the Index of the 
Papers of the Congress, and the proceedings of the Federal 
Convention. 

No. 4, March, 1894, contains a Calendar of the Corres- 
pondence of James Madison. 

No. 5, May, 1894, contains lists of the volumes of the 
Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, Monroe, and Franklin collec- 
tions; a continuation of the Index of the Papers of the 
Congress, the Constitution of the United States as framed 
by the Federal Convention, the proceedings of the Congress 
thereupon, and the ratifications thereof by the several States. 

No. 6, July, 1894, contains Part I of a 'Calendar of the 
Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson; letters from Jefferson. 

No. 7 contains a list of the Territorial and State Records 
in the Bureau, the continuation of the Index of the Papers 
of the Continental Congress, and the amendments to the 
Constitution of the United States. 

No. 8 contains Part II of the Calendar of the Correspond- 
ence of Thomas Jefferson, being letters to Jefferson. 

No. 9 continues the Index of the Papers of the Congress, 
and contains a literal print of Madison's Notes of the Debates 
in the Federal Convention. 

The archives of international commissions in the custody 
of the Bureau of Rolls and Library comprise the records and 
papers of all arbitrations and commissions of the United 
States and other powers for the adjudication {final settle- 
ment) of questions of boundaries and of public and private 
4089 — 01 7 



7 2 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

claims, and they are, as may readily be surmised, of very 
great volume, and subject to frequent examination for 
various purposes, both by the Government and by interested 
individuals. 

The library, founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1789, con- 
sists of about 65,000 volumes and 2,500 pamphlets. Its 
principal and most valuable collections are works on inter- 
nationaj law, diplomacy, and the laws of foreign nations. 
It is rich also in history, biography, and travels; but, with 
the limited sum allowed for the purchase of books, it is not 
able to keep abreast of the publishers on all these' lines. Its 
annual accessions amount to about 1,000 books and pam- 
phlets, exclusive of those acquired by gift, which are not 
very many. Books and maps are bought for the library 
under an order of the Secretary of State by the chief of the 
Bureau, who must be fully advised of publications generally, 
and accounts are kept in the library as well as in the Bureau 
of Accounts. Periodicals, of which the library has only a 
fair list, are secured under the same conditions. The use of 
the library is restricted, first, to the official business of the 
Department, then to the Department service personally, to 
the members of the Diplomatic Corps in Washington, and 
to others specially admitted. 

The library, as a public depository, receives one copy of 
each bound volume of Congressional documents, and pos- 
sesses a collection of these volumes from the earlier Con- 
gresses of considerable value and extent. It also receives by 
special resolution of Congress nineteen copies of every sep- 
arate Senate and House of Representatives document and 
report, and ten copies of every bill and resolution introduced 
in Congress. These documents, etc., are solely for the 
official use of the Department and not for distribution in any 
sense. They are carefully assorted, entered, and filed for 
reference and future use; bills and resolutions of Congress 



History and Functions of the Department of State, jt, 

only being discarded at the end of each Congress. Such 
documents as the Department has for distribution occasion- 
ally, except Consular Reports and Commercial Relations, 
are cared for and distributed by this Bureau, and an accurate 
account is kept. 

The library has no printed catalogue, but publishes an 
accession list semiannually, and is engaged upon a special 
catalogue of its collections of works relating to international 
law and diplomacy, Part I of which, covering the letters A 
and B, is in print in a very limited edition, for distribution 
to certain classes of libraries. There is an extensive card 
catalogue of the works of the several collections. 

The correspondence of the Bureau is conducted principally 
by circulars drawn to meet almost all routine work by mail 
that concerns the distribution of documents, the laws of Con- 
gress, and the Revolutionary archives. 

Other work of this division of the Bureau, in which there 
are engaged only six persons, is similar to that of all libra- 
ries and involves similar qualifications. 



BUREAU OF INDEXES AND ARCHIVES. 

PENDLETON KING, Chief of Bureau. 

Pendleton King is a native of North Carolina; was edu- 
cated at Haverford College, Pennsylvania, and in Berlin and 
Paris; was appointed Secretary of Legation at Constantinople 
in 1886, and was Charge d' Affaires at different times; was 
appointed Chief of the Bureau of Indexes and Archives in 
J 894- 

The chief objects of this Bureau are: 

1. To make, for the purpose of reference, an entry, under 
carefully selected catchwords, of the correspondence to and 
from this Department. 

2. To keep a written record of all indexed communications 
from the Department. 

3. To bind and keep in orderly arrangement all dispatches 
and indexed letters to the Department — the main body of 
the archives. 

4. To make a subject index on cards of the outgoing and 
incoming correspondence. 

5. To collect the correspondence on any subject of cur- 
rent examination (for the officers and bureaus of the Depart- 
ment). 

6. The preparation of the annual volume of " Foreign 
Relations." 

1. Indexing. — The mail received at the Department is 
brought to this Bureau and divided into three classes — Dip- 
lomatic (all communications from the ambassadors and 
ministers of our own and other countries), Consular (all 
communications from our consuls and consuls of foreign 
countries), Miscellaneous (letters from the other departments 
of this Government, from Congress, private individuals, etc). 

74 




PENDLETON KING. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 75 

It is then opened, stamped, arranged, and examined by 
clerks, who enter in folio index books (labeled "To the 
Department "), under appropriate catchwords, a brief abstract 
of the contents of each communication. The entries in 
the diplomatic and consular index books are arranged by 
countries, in alphabetical order; in the miscellaneous index 
books they are entered in alphabetical order. After being 
indexed, the diplomatic correspondence and the more im- 
portant consular and miscellaneous are sent to the Chief 
Clerk of the Department for distribution to the officers and 
bureaus that have the matters in charge; the routine and 
less important communications are distributed by the index 
clerks. 

The answers to these communications likewise come to 
this Bureau, and are divided into three classes and indexed 
in a similar manner in books labeled " From the Department." 
This outgoing mail is then sent back to the bureaus 
where it was prepared; a press copy is there made of every 
indexed outgoing communication and sent to this Bureau 
for the recording clerks. The following specimens indicate 
the manner of indexing: 

DIPLOMATIC REGISTER— CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE DEPARTMENT. 











Record. 


To Spain. 


No. 


Date. 


Subject. 




Vol. 


Page. 






1885. 








J. I,. M. Curry, en- 


47 


Dec. 28 


Claim of J. J. May v. Spain for seizure 


16 


125 


voy extraordi- 






and sale of his vessel Morning Star 






nary and minis 






by customs authorities at Cardenas. 






ter plenipoten- 






The condemnation and sale were 






tiary. 






made on a technical violation of cus- 
toms regulations. Instructed to pre- 
sent the case and urge the payment 
of indemnity. Inclosure ioth instant 
from consul at Cardenas. 








48 


Dec. 30 


Barcelona: Recognition of W. M. Han- 
ford as consul at, desired. 




129 



7 6 History a?id Functions of the Department of State. 





DIPLOMATIC REGISTER— CORRESPONDENCE) TO DEPARTMENT. 




From Spain. 


No. 


Date. 


Subject. 


Re- 
ceived. 








1886. 






J. 


L. M. Curry 


92 


Jan. 8 


Claim of J. J. May v. Spain for seizuie and 
sale of his vessel Morning Star at Carde- 
nas. Refers to despatch 47 and previous 
correspondence, and states Spain offers 
$20,000 in full settlement. 


6, 20 






93 


Jan. 15 


Imprisonment without trial of Thomas 
Greene, an American sailor, at Malaga. 
He is charged -with larceny. Minister 
foreign affairs promises investigation of 
the delay and a fair trial. Incloses letter 


6,27 








from consul at Malaga and note from for- 












eign office. 





CONSULAR REGISTER— CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE DEPARTMENT. 



To Cardenas. 


No. 


Date. 


vSubject. 


Record. 


Vol. 


Page. 


W. H. Tracy, con- 
sul. 


5i 


1885. 
Nov. 15 


Claim of J. J. May v. Spain for seizure 
and sale of his vessel Morning Star 
by customs authorities at Cardenas 
for error in manifest. Inclosure 10th 
instant from J. J. May, relative to, in- 
structs him to investigate and report 
facts. 


217 


. 



CONSULAR REGISTER-CORRESPONDENCE TO DEPARTMENT. 



From Cardenas. 


No. 


Date. 


vSubject. 


Re- 
ceived. 






1885. 






W. W. Tracy, con- 


72 


Dec. 10 


Claim of J. J. May v. Spain for seizure and 


12,26 


sul. 


73 




sale of his vessel Morning Star by customs 
authorities at Cardenas. Reports result 
of investigation. The case one of great 
hardship; the seizure and sale were made 
on a technical error. 
Wreck of American ship Ocean Pearl re- 


1, 11 








ported. 





History and Functions of the Department of State. 77 

MISCELLANEOUS REGISTER— CORRESPONDENCE FROM DEPARTMENT. 



To whom. 


Date. 


Subject. 


Record. 


Vol. 


Page. 


J J. May 


1886. 
June 23 


Claim v. Spain growing out of seizure 
and sale of his vessel Morning Star by 
customs authorities at Cardenas. Re- 
fers to his November 10, and subse- 
quent correspondence. Spain offers 
$20,000 in settlement; asks if this is 
satisfactory. 


150 


26 







MISCELLANEOUS REGISTER— CORRESPONDENCE TO DEPARTMENT. 



From whom. 


Date. 


Subject. 


Re- 
ceived. 




1885. 






May, J.J 


Nov. 10 


Claim v. Spain, growing out of seizure and 
sale of his vessel Morning Star bj' customs 
authorities at Cardenas for technical error 
in manifest. Incloses papers showing ab- 
sence of fraudulent intent, and requests 
intervention of United States. 


11, 12 


Mason, J. B., & Co 


Nov. 25 


Rescue of crew of their vessel Minnie War- 
ren by British vessel Salamander. Calls 
attention to the heroism of the crew, and 
recommends a suitable acknowledgment 
by the Department. 


11,26 


Maryland Geological 


Dec. 12 


Geological explorations in Crete. Requests 


12,3 


Society. 




that minister at Constantinople aid them 
in obtaining a firman from the Sultan of 
Turkey to enable them to continue. 




Marshal at Salt Lake 


Dec. 26 


Fate of Rufus Ruddy, an Englishman. Is 


12,31 


City. 


1886. 


unable to obtain information lelative to. 




Memphis, judge of or- 


Jan. 3 


Legacy left Hans Boiler, a German, residing 


i,8 


phans' court of. 




at Hamburg. Asks if Department will 
undertake to forward same. 




Mint of United States 


Jan. 9 


Japanese coin. Return same, with result of 


1, 11 


at Philadelphia. 




assay made at instance of Japanese min- 








ister, acknowledged 2d instant. 





2. Recording. — The press copies (above referred to) are 
divided into three classes — diplomatic, consular, and mis- 



78 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

cellaneous — and delivered to the recording clerks, by whom 
they are carefully- copied and compared. Each embassy 
and legation has its special book; the consular instructions 
are recorded in one series in chronological order, and the 
outgoing miscellaneous letters are recorded in a series called 
"Domestic Letters" (to distinguish them from "Miscellane- 
ous Letters," by which incoming letters are designated). 

3. Archives. — After dispatches and letters have been 
answered they are all returned to this Bureau and filed in 
three classes — diplomatic, consular, and miscellaneous — in 
pigeonholes, each embassy, legation, and consulate having 
its own pigeonhole. These are arranged in alphabetical 
order. As the pigeonholes become filled, the correspond- 
ence is arranged in volumes and substantially bound, each 
embassy, legation, and consulate having its own series. 
Miscellaneous letters are bound in a separate series in chro- 
nological order. These bound volumes are then placed in 
labeled cases in a systematic manner and form the bulk of 
the archives of this Department. 

4. Subject index. — In addition to the folio index books, 
it is intended to have a much more complete system of 
reference to all the correspondence of the Department by 
means of cards, so as to form a complete subject index to 
the entire correspondence, in order that a reference can be 
readily made to all the papers bearing on any given subject. 

(The following will give an illustration of the manner in 
which the correspondence of the Department upon any 
particular subject is collated by means of the card system 
of subject indexing. In practice each card represents a 
communication, and therefore each paragraph in the follow- 
ing illustration is intended to represent a card.) 

May, J. J., Claim v. Spain growing out of seizure and sale of his vessel 
Morning Star by customs authorities at Cardenas for technical error in 
manifest. Bncs. papers showing absence of fraudulent intent, and requests 
intervention of U. S. From May, J. J., Nov. 10, 1882. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 79 

Consul at Cardenas instructs him to investigate and reports facts. Enc. 
10 inst., from J. J. May. To consul, No. 51, Nov. 15, 1885. 

Consul at Cardenas reports result of investigation. The case one of 
great hardship. The seizure and sale were made on a technical error. 
From consul at Cardenas, No. 72, of Dec. 10, 1885. 

Minister to Spain instructed to present the case and urge payment of 
indemnity. The condemnation and sale made on a technical violation of 
customs regulations. Enc. 10 Nov., '85, from J. J. May, and 10 Dec, '85, 
from consul at Cardenas to min. to Spain, No. 47, Dec. 28, 1885. 

Minister to Spain reports action taken, and that Spain offers $20,000 in 
full settlement. Refers to Dept.'s 47, of Dec. 28, 1885. From minister to 
Spain, No. 92, Jan. 8, 1886. 

Claimant informed that Spain offers $20,000 in settlement. Asks if this 
is satisfactory. Refers to his Nov. 10. To J. J. May, June 23, 1886. 

Morning Star, claim of owner of, v. Spain. See May, J. J. 

Spain, claims of U. S. citizens against. See May, J. J. 

May, J. J., claim of, v. Spain, for seizure and sale of his vessel Morning 
Star hy custom authorities at Cardenas. The condemnation and sale were 
made on a technical violation of customs regulations. Instructed to pre- 
sent the case and urge the payment of indemnity. Inc. 10, Nov., '85, from 
J. J. May, and 10, of Dec, 1885, from consul at Cardenas. 

5. Furnishing correspondence to the officers of the Depart- 
ment. — This Bureau, by an examination of the folio and 
other index books, looks up and collects for the officers and 
bureaus of the Department all the dispatches, instructions, 
and letters needed for the consideration of the different sub- 
jects receiving daily . attention, and to answer resolutions 
of the Senate and House of Representatives calling for 
correspondence. 



BUREAU OF FOREIGN COMMERCE. 

FREDERIC EMORY, Chief of Bureau. 

Frederic Emory, Chief of the Bureau of Foreign Com- 
merce, Department of State, was born at Centerville, Queen 
Anne County, Md., September 18, 1853; son °f Blanchard 
and Mary Bourke Emory; educated at St. John's College, 
Annapolis, Md.; was employed in newspaper work until 
March, 1893, when he was appointed Secretary of the 
Bureau of American Republics; in April, 1894, was ap- 
pointed Chief of the Bureau of Statistics (now Bureau of 
Foreign Commerce) of the Department of State; was also 
Director of the Bureau of American Republics from Febru- 
ary, 1898, to May, 1899. 



The Bureau of Foreign Commerce, of the Department 
of State, is charged with the duty of compiling, editing, 
and distributing the reports of the diplomatic and consular 
officers stationed in the various countries of the world upon 
commercial and industrial subjects. It also prepares the 
drafts of instructions to such officers for the collection of 
information for the benefit of the public. The Bureau was 
formerly known as the Bureau of Statistics, but because of 
the confusion arising from the fact that there were bureaus 
in other Departments of the same designation, the name was 
changed by order of Secretary Sherman July 1, 1897. 
Although the publications of the Bureau relate primarily 
80 




FREDERIC EMORY. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 81 

to commerce and industries, they cover a wide field of 
miscellaneous information. 

The reports are received in the usual way in the Depart- 
ment and referred by the proper official to the Bureau of 
Foreign Commerce. They are immediately examined, and 
such of them as are of current interest are promptly printed 
in the form of a daily publication. This periodical, known 
as Advance Sheets, had, prior to January i, 1898, been issued 
irregularly as occasion required. On that date, in pursu- 
ance to an order from Secretary Sherman, the publication 
of the reports every day, except Sundays and legal holidays, 
was begun, in order that the newspaper press, organized 
trade bodies, and the business community of the United 
States might receive the benefit of the reports with the 
least possible delay. This improvement has been widely 
commended as of great practical importance, and as placing 
the United States system of consular reporting ahead of 
that of an}- other country in the world. In addition to the 
daily reports, the Bureau Df Foreign Commerce issues every 
year two large volumes of annual reports of consular officers 
upon the trade and industrial activities of their districts. 
These reports are summarized in an introduction of several 
hundred pages, which is also printed separately under the 
heading, "Review of the World's Commerce.' 1 

The miscellaneous reports printed daily are collected at 
the end of ever}- month and printed in the periodical 
monthly, Consular Reports, which was established in 1880. 
From time to time, at the suggestion of individuals or 
firms seeking information as to conditions in foreign coun- 
tries, series of special reports are obtained from consular 
officers and printed in separate form. The quarterly returns 
of exports from consular districts to the United States are 
printed in another publication, known as Declared Exports 
which is issued at the end of every three months. There 



82 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

are, therefore, five distinct classes of publications emana- 
ting from the Bureau of Foreign Commerce: 

Daily Consular Reports. 

Monthly Consular Reports. 

Commercial Relations, being the annual reports. 

Special Consular Reports. 

Declared Exports. 

Testimony as to the practical value of the consular 
reports is a matter of almost daily record in the leading 
trade newspapers of the world. The force of the Bureau of 
Foreign Commerce engaged in this work consists, all told, 
of eleven persons. 




ROBERT B. MOSHER. 



BUREAU OF APPOINTMENTS. 

ROBERT BRENT MOSHER, Chief of the Bureau. 

Robert Brent Mosher, Chief of the Bureau of Appoint- 
ments, was born in Washington, D. C, December 6, 1856; 
was educated at Rock Hill College, Ellicott City, Md.; was 
engaged in various occupations until appointed a clerk of 
class 1 in the War Department, under civil-service rules, on 
probation, July 26, 1888; permanently appointed same class 
January 26, 1889; appointed clerk in Department of State 
at $1,000, on probation, under civil-service rules, July 19, 
1890^ permanent, class 1, January 19, 1891; class 3, Novem- 
ber 4, 1895; class 4, January 6, 1896. Designated to act as 
appointment clerk January 23, 1897; appointed Chief of 
Bureau of Appointments July 7, 1898. 



The duties of the Bureau of Appointments, as the name 
implies, relate principally to appointments, but it is also 
charged with the preparation of exequaturs and warrants of 
extradition. 

Applications and recommendations for office when re- 
ceived are stamped and indorsed with the name of the appli- 
cant, the office sought, and the name of the writer. They 
are then indexed by card and filed with the applicant's other 
papers. When the President takes up the question of fill- 
ing the office it is usual for the Chief of the Bureau, by di- 
rection of the Secretary or the Assistant Secretary, to prepare 
a digest of the papers of each applicant for that place, giving 

83 



84 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

a brief history of the applicant and a list of the persons who 
recommend him, arranged in the order of their importance. 
This is a tedious process, and it materially lightens the bur- 
dens of the President, the Secretary, and the Assistant Sec- 
retary in filling the office. The result of the examination 
of the brief is embodied in a memorandum of the President, 
which reads : " Appoint John Doe. W. McK." 

Candidates selected for Consulates or Commercial Agen- 
cies compensated by salary or official fees to the amount of 
$1,000 or more and not exceeding $2,500, are before being 
appointed required to pass an examination under an Exec- 
utive order issued September 20, 1895, and the report of 
the Board of Examiners is sent to the President with the 
nomination. In other cases the nomination is sent to the 
President for transmission to the Senate as soon as a selec- 
tion has been made. The Senate having confirmed the 
nomination, a formal certificate to that effect is executed by 
the Secretary of the Senate and sent to the Executive Man- 
sion, whence it is forwarded to the State Department, and 
the commission is made out and recorded as of the date of 
the confirmation. The appointee is then notified of his 
appointment and sent an oath of office for execution, and if 
he be required to furnish bond the proper forms and instruc- 
tions are forwarded at the same time. Upon receipt of the 
oath and bond they are examined in the Bureau, and if 
found to be proper and sufficient the bond is approved and 
deposited with the Secretary of the Treasury, and the com- 
mission sent to the Consular Bureau. It then passes to the 
Diplomatic Bureau for transmission to our representative in 
the country in which the consulate is located, with instruc- 
tions to ask for the Consul's official recognition. 

Vice and deputy consuls and consular agents are appointed 
by the Secretary of State upon nomination by the respective 
consuls under whom they are to serve. There is no salary 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 85 

provided for them as such, consular agents being allowed 
half the fees they collect and vice and deputy consuls 
receiving such pay for their sendees as may be allowed by 
the consul from his compensation. 

The recognition of a foreign consular officer in his official 
capacity is called an exequatur, which is signed by the 
President when the commission of the officer is signed by 
the head of the state, and by the Secretary of State when 
the commission is issued by any other authority — such as a 
minister for foreign affairs, a minister, consul-general, or 
consul. 

Warrants of extradition are of three kinds, viz: Arrest, 
surrender, and authority for bringing a criminal to the 
United States from a foreign country. Warrants of arrest 
are issued by the Secretary of State upon the request of the 
diplomatic representative of the country from which the 
criminal has fled; warrants of surrender are issued by the 
Secretary of State after the criminal has been arrested and 
tried before a commissioner in extradition; the third class 
of warrants consists of those issued by the President, as 
authority for the person selected by the State in which the 
crime was committed to take the fugitive in his custody and 
bring him back to the United States from the country in 
which he has taken refuge. 

The preparation and publication of the Annual Register 
of the Department, and of lists of the diplomatic and con- 
sular officers, which are issued periodically during the year, 
is an important feature of the work of this Bureau. 

The records of the office consist of application papers, 
copies of commissions, records of nominations and appoint- 
ments which date from the beginning of the Government 
under the Constitution of 1789, oaths of office, records of 
pardons issued up to June 16, 1893, amnesty oaths, and 
extradition papers. 



86 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

This Bureau is also charged with the custody of the Great 
Seal of the United States, impressions of which are affixed 
to treaties with foreign governments, Presidential proclama- 
tions, ceremonial letters, commissions, and full exequaturs. 
A special warrant of the President is required when affixed 
to any instrument excepting a commission or an exequatur. 



BIOGRAPHIES OF THE SECRETARIES OF FOREIGN 
AFFAIRS. 



The Department of Foreign Affairs was organized 
August 10, 1 781, and the place of Secretary of Foreign 
Affairs was offered to Robert R. Livingston, of New York. 
He declined the position until he could familiarize himself 
with the character and scope of the powers of the new office. 
He seemed satisfied, for he accepted the office September 23 
following. 

Upon assuming the duties of the office he wrote to Count 
Vergennes that, "Congress having thought it expedient to 
dissolve a committee of their own body, by whom their 
foreign affairs had hitherto been conducted, and to submit 
the general direction of them (under their inspection) to a 
Secretary of Foreign Affairs, I do myself the honor to 
inform Your Excellency that they have been pleased to 
appoint me to that Department, and to direct me to corre- 
spond in that capacity with the Ministers of foreign powers." 

He likewise communicated the fact of his assumption of 
the duties of the office to Franklin, John Adams, Dana, and 
Jay, oiir Ministers abroad. 

Thus it will be perceived that Robert R. Livingston was 
the first Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He took the oath of 
office October 20, 1781, and resigned in June, 1783. 

Elias Boudinot, of New Jersey, as President of Congress, 
became officially Secretary ad interim from the resigna- 
tion of Mr. Livingston in June, 1783, till the dissolution 
of Congress. 

87 



88 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

Thomas Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, upon the organization 
of a new Congress, was elected to be its President November 
3, 1783, and as snch acted as ad interim Secretary till 
December 21, 1784. 

John Jay, of New York, was chosen by Congress to be Sec- 
retary of Foreign Affairs May 7, 1784; qualified December 
2i, 1784, and served till March 4, 1789, under the Confed- 
eration. On the organization of the Government under the 
Constitution, he continued in charge of the Foreign Rela- 
tions of the Nation at the request of President Washington 
till March 21, 1790, having meanwhile (September 26, 1789) 
been appointed as Chief Justice of the United States. 

It will be noted that John Jay, who had been Secretary 
of Foreign Affairs, continued in charge of the Department 
of State under the Constitution for a period of eleven days 
by request of President Washington. This would seem to 
entitle him to be considered the first Secretary of State. 
Yet he was never regularly appointed to that position, and 
therefore it can hardly be claimed that he was in the full 
sense Secretary of State. The most that can be claimed, 
probably, is that by the direction of the President he filled 
an interregnum till Thomas Jefferson was duly appointed 
Secretary of State, which occurred September 26, 1789. In 
addition to the eleven days of the interregnum, Jay served 
from the appointment of Jefferson to March 22, 1790, when 
Jefferson entered upon the discharge of the duties of the 
office. 

Brief biographies of the distinguished men who filled the 
office of Secretary of Foreign Affairs, it is thought, should 
be given in this connection as introductory to similar biog- 
raphies of the Secretaries of State from Jefferson to Hay. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 89 
BIOGRAPHIES OF SECRETARIES OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 

Robert R. Livingston was born in New York City 
November 27, 1746; was graduated from Kings (now 
Columbia) College in 1765; studied law and was admitted 
to the bar in 1773; for a short time was associated in part- 
nership with John Jay, who had been his contemporary in 
college. In 1775 he was elected to the provincial assembly 
of New York from Dutchess County, and was sent by this 
body as a delegate to the Continental Congress, continuing 
in this capacity till 1777; was a member of the committee 
of five appointed to draft a declaration of independence, but 
was prevented from signing the Declaration when engrossed 
by reason of unavoidable absence. He was again a dele- 
gate in 1779-1781, and throughout the entire Revolution 
was most active in behalf of the cause of independence. 
In 1788 was chairman of the New York convention to con- 
sider the United States Constitution. As Chancellor of the 
State of New York he administered the oath of office to 
George Washington on his inauguration as first President 
of the United States. He held the office of Secretary of 
Foreign Affairs for the United States 1 781-1783. He took 
the oath of office as Secretary of Foreign Affairs October 
20, 1 781, and resigned in June, 1783. He declined the 
portfolio of Secretary of the Navy, tendered by President 
Jefferson. In 1794 he declined the mission to France, but 
accepted that office in 1801. As Minister to France he 
began the negotiations tending toward a settlement of the 
French spoliation claims. Subsequent to his resignation, 
while in Paris, he met Robert Fulton, and together they 
successfully developed a plan of steam navigation. After 
his retirement from public service Livingston devoted con- 
siderable time and attention to the subject of agriculture. 
He died in Clermont, N. Y., February 26, 181 3. 



90 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

Elias Boudinot was born in Philadelphia May 2, 1740; 
after receiving a classical education, he studied law and 
practiced in New Jersey; in 1777 was appointed commissary- 
general of prisoners; same year was elected a Delegate to 
Congress from New Jersey, serving from 1778 till 1779, and 
again from 1 781 till 1784; was chosen President of Congress 
November 4, 1782, and in that capacity signed the Treaty 
of Peace with England; resumed the practice of law, but 
after the adoption of the Constitution was elected to the 
First, Second, and Third Congresses, serving from March 4, 
1789, till March 3, 1795; was appointed by Washington in 
1795 to succeed Rittenhouse as Director of the Mint at 
Philadelphia, and held the office till July, 1805, when he 
resigned and passed the rest of his life at Burlington, N. J., 
devoted to the study of Biblical literature, and charitable 
works; was a trustee of Princeton College, endowed it with 
a cabinet of natural history valued at $3,000; assisted in 
founding the American Bible Society in 181 6, and was its 
first president, and gave it $10,000. He was interested in 
attempts to educate the Indians; also in educating young 
men for the ministry; bequeathed his property to his only 
daughter, Mrs. Bradford, and to charitable uses; among his 
bequests were one of $200 to buy spectacles for the aged 
poor; another of 13,000 acres of land to the mayor and cor- 
poration of Philadelphia that the poor might be supplied 
with wood at low prices; and another of 3,000 acres to the 
Philadelphia Hospital, for the benefit of foreigners. Died 
in Burlington, N. J., October 24, 1821. 

Thomas Mifflin was born in Philadelphia in 1744; was 
graduated from Philadelphia College in 1760; entered a 
counting house; traveled in Europe in 1765, and on his 
return engaged in commercial business; in 1772 and 1773 
was a representative in the legislature, and in 1774 was one 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 91 

of the Delegates sent to the Continental Congress. When 
the news came of the fight at Lexington he eloquently 
advocated resolute action in the town meetings, and when 
troops were enlisted he was active in organizing and drill- 
ing one of the first regiments and was made its major. This 
action severed his connection with the Quaker society in 
which he was born and reared. General Washington chose 
him as his first aid-de-camp, with the rank of colonel, soon 
after the establishment of his headquarters at Cambridge. 
While there he led a force against a British detachment. 
In July, 1775, he was made Quartermaster-General of the 
Army, and after the evacuation of Boston by the enemy, 
was commissioned as brigadier-general Ma}' 19, 1776; was 
assigned to the command of a part of the Pennsylvania 
troops when the army la}- in camp before New York, and 
enjoyed the particular confidence of the Commander in 
Chief; his brigade was described as the best disciplined of 
any in the Army; in the retreat from Long Island he com- 
manded the rear guard. In compliance with a special 
resolve of Congress Mifflin resumed the duties of Quarter- 
master-General. In November, 1776, he was sent to Phila- 
delphia to represent to Congress the critical condition of 
the Army, and to excite the patriotism of the Pennsylva- 
nians. After listening to him Congress appealed to the 
militia of Philadelphia and the nearest counties to join the 
Army in New Jersey, sent to all parts of the country for 
reenforcements and supplies, and ordered Mifflin to remain 
in Philadelphia for consultation and advice; he organized 
and trained the three regiments of associators of the city and 
neighborhood, and sent a body of 1,500 to Trenton; in Jan- 
uary, 1777, accompanied by a committee of the legislature, 
he made the tour of the principal towns of Pennsylvania, and 
by his stirring oratory brought recruits to the ranks of the 
Army; he came up with reenforcements before the battle of 



92 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

Princeton was fought. In recognition of his services Con- 
gress commissioned him major-general and made him a 
member of the Board of War. The cares of various offices 
so impaired General Mifflin's health that he offered his res- 
ignation, but Congress refused^to accept it; offered his resig- 
nation again, but Congress again refused to accept it, and 
placed in his hands $1,000,000 to settle outstanding claims. 

In January, 1780, he was appointed on a board to devise 
means for retrenching expenses. After the achievement of 
independence he was elected to Congress, was chosen its 
President November 3, 1783, and wmen Washington resigned 
his commission as General of the Army replied to him in 
eulogistic terms. He was a member of the legislature in 
1785, and was elected speaker. 

In 1787 he was a delegate to the convention that framed 
the Constitution of the United States and was one of its 
signers. He was elected a member of the supreme execu- 
tive council of Pennsylvania in 1788, succeeded to its presi- 
dency, and filled that office till 1790. He presided over the 
convention that was called to devise a new constitution for 
Pennsylvania in that year, was elected the first governor, 
over Arthur St. Clair, and reelected for the two succeeding 
terms of three years. He raised Pennsylvania's quota of 
troops for the suppression of the whisky insurrection, and 
served during the campaign under the orders of Governor 
Henry Lee, of Virginia. Not being eligible under the con- 
stitution for a fourth term in the governor's chair, he was 
elected in 1799 to the assembly, and died during the legis- 
lative session. Governor Mifflin was a member of the 
American Philosophical Society from 1768 till his death, 
which occurred January 20, 1800, in Lancaster, Pa. 

John Jay was born in New York City, December 12, 1745; 
was of Huguenot descent; was graduated from Kings (now 



History and Funciio7is of the Department of State. 93 

Columbia) College, New York, in 1766; studied law with 
Benjamin Kissam, and was admitted to the bar in 1766; 
when news of the passage of the Boston port bill reached New 
York, May 1 6 of that year, at a meeting of citizens, Jay was 
appointed a member of a committee of fifty-one to correspond 
with the other colonies; was a member of the second Provin- 
cial Congress, which met in Philadelphia, May 10, 1775; was 
also a member of the secret committee appointed by the Con- 
gress, November 29 of that year, " to correspond with the 
friends of America in Great Britain, Ireland, and other parts 
of the world." While he was attending Congress in Phila- 
delphia, Jay's presence was requested by the New York con- 
vention, which required his counsel; this convention met at 
White Plains, July 9, 1776, and on Jay's motion unani- 
mously approved the Declaration of Independence. He 
drafted the State constitution adopted by the convention of 
New York, and was appointed chief justice of that State, 
holding his first term at Kingston in September, 1777. Sep- 
tember 27, 1778, he was appointed minister to Spain, whence 
he sailed in October; while in Spain Jay was added by Con- 
gress to the Peace Commissioners, and the 23d of June, 1782, 
joined Franklin in Paris; after more than a year's negotia- 
tions, the definitive treaty was signed, September 3, 1783, 
and Jay returned to New York in July, 1784, having been 
elected by Congress Secretary of Foreign Affairs, which post 
he held till the formation of the Federal Government in 1 789. 
By an act of Congress approved September 15 of that 
year, the Department of Foreign Affairs became the Depart- 
ment of State, and by request of President Washington he 
continued at the head of the office till Jefferson's return 
from Paris, the latter having been appointed Secretary of 
State September 26, 1789. On the organization of the Fed- 
eral Government Washington asked Jay to accept whatever 
place he might prefer, and he took the office of Chief 



94 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1794 be went as a spe- 
cial envoy to Great Britain, with which our relations were 
then strained, and the 19th of November concluded with 
Lord Grenville the convention known as "Jay's Treaty," 
the ratification of which, against an unexampled opposition, 
avoided a war with Great Britain; on his return he became 
governor of New York, which office he retained till 1801. 
He declined a return to the Chief Justiceship of the Supreme 
Court, to which he was reappointed by President Adams, 
and passed the remainder of his life on his estate in West- 
chester County, N. Y., where he died May 17, 1829. 




THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS OF THE SECRETARIES 
OF STATE. 



Thomas Jefferson was born at Shadwell, Va., in 1743. 
His education was chiefly acquired from private tutors, 
although he passed two years at the College of William and 
Mary; adopted the law as his profession; was a member of 
the legislature of Virginia from 1769 to the commencement 
of the American Revolution; in 1775 was a Delegate in 
Congress. On May 15, 1776, the convention of Virginia 
instructed their Delegates to propose a Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. In June Mr. Lee accordingly made the motion 
and it was voted that a committee be appointed to prepare 
one. The committee was elected by ballot, and consisted 
of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, 
Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. The Declara- 
tion was exclusively the work of Jefferson, to whom the 
right of drafting it belonged, as chairman of the committee, 
although alterations and amendments were made in it by 
Adams, Franklin, and other members of the committee and 
afterwards by Congress. Jefferson retired from Congress 
September, 1776, and took a seat in the legislature of his 
State in October. In 1779 was chosen Governor and held 
the office two years. Declined a foreign appointment in 
1776 and again in 178 1. Accepted the appointment as one 
of the commissioners for negotiating peace, but before he 
sailed news was received of the signing of the provisional 
4089 — 01 9 95 



96 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

treaty, and lie was excused from proceeding on the mission; 
returned to Congress. In 1774 wrote notes on the estab- 
lishment of a money unit and of a coinage for the United 
States. In May of that year was appointed, with Adams 
and Franklin, a Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate 
Treaties of Commerce with Foreign Nations. In 1785 was 
Minister to the French Court. In 1 789 returned to America 
and received from Washington the appointment of Secre- 
tary of State; was commissioned September 26, 1789, and 
entered upon his duties March 22, f/po; retired December 
J 7 ) J 793- I n September, 1794, when an appointment was 
offered him by Washington, he replied, " No circumstance 
will evermore tempt me to engage in anything public." 
Notwithstanding this determination, he suffered himself to 
be a candidate for President and was chosen Vice-President 
in 1796. At the election in 180 1, he and Aaron Burr having 
an equal number of electoral votes for President, the House 
of Representatives, after a severe struggle, finally deter- 
mined in his favor; was reelected in 1805. At the end of 
his second term he retired from office. Died July 4, 182.6, 
at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, just fifty years from the date of 
the Declaration of Independence. It is a most remarkable 
fact that on the same day John Adams, a signer with Jeffer- 
son of the Declaration, the second on the committee for draft- 
ing it, and Jefferson's immediate predecessor in the office of 
President, also died. Jefferson's publications were: Sum- 
mary Views of the Rights of British America, 1774; Decla- 
ration of Independence, 1776; Notes on Virginia, 1781; 
Manual of Parliamentary Practice, for the use of the Senate; 
Life of Captain Lewis, 1814, and some papers of a philo- 
sophical character. His works, chiefly letters, were first 
published by his grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, 
1829, an d a complete edition, by order of Congress, in nine 
volumes, in 1853. 




EDMUND RANDOLPH. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 97 

Edmund Randolph was a native of Virginia; was an 
eminent lawyer, and a warm supporter of the Revolution; 
was a Delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia 
from 1779 to 1783; in 1788 was a member of the Convention 
which framed the Constitution of the United States, but 
voted against its adoption; in 1788 was Governor of Vir- 
ginia; in 1789 was Attorney-General of the United States; 
was commissioned Secretary of State January 2, 1794, but,- 
engaging in an intrigue with the French Minister, lost the 
confidence of the Cabinet and resigned August 19, 1795. 
Died September 12, 181 3. 

Timothy Pickering was born in Salem, Mass., July 17, 
1745 ; graduated at Harvard University in 1763, and after 
the usual course of professional studies was admitted to the 
practice of law ; when the dissensions between the mother 
country and our own commenced, he became the champion 
and leader of the Whigs of the locality in which he lived ; 
was a member of the Committee of Inspection and Corre- 
spondence, and bore the entire burden of writing the 
address which, in 1774, the inhabitants of Salem in full 
town meeting voted to Governor Gage on the occasion of 
the Boston port bill. That part of it disclaiming any wish 
on the part of the inhabitants of Salem to profit by the clos- 
ing of the port of Boston is quoted by Dr. Ramsay in his 
history of the American Revolution. In April, 1775, 
on receiving intelligence of the Battle of Lexington, he 
marched with a regiment, of which he was at the time com- 
mander, to Charlestown, but had not an opportunity of 
engaging in battle. Before the close of the same year, 
when the provisional government was organizing, he was 
appointed one of the judges of the court of common pleas 
for Essex, his native county, and sole judge of the maritime 
court for the middle district, comprehending Boston, Salem, 



98 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

and the other parts in Essex. These offices he held till 
he accepted an appointment in the Army. 

In 1777 he was named Adjutant-General by Washington, 
and joined the Army, then at Middlebrook, N. J.; continued 
with the Commander in Chief till the American forces went 
into winter quarters at Valley Forge, having been present 
at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. He then 
proceeded to discharge the duties of a member of the Con- 
tinental Board of War, to which he had been elected by 
Congress. In this station he remained till he was ap- 
pointed to succeed General Greene in the office of Quarter- 
master-General, which he retained during the residue of the 
war, and in which he contributed much to the surrender of 
Cornwallis at Yorktown. From 1790 to 1794 he was 
charged by President Washington with several negotiations 
with the Indian nations on our frontiers. In 1791 he was 
made Postmaster-General; in 1794 removed from that sta- 
tion to the Secretaryship of War, on the resignation of 
General Knox. August 20, i/pj, was appointed Secretary 
of State ad interim, vice Edmund Randolph; was commis- 
sioned Secretary of State December 10, iyp^; was removed 
from this office by President Adams May 12, 1800. At the 
end of the year 1801 returned to Massachusetts. The legisla- 
ture of that State elected him, in 1803, United States Sena- 
tor for the residue of the term of Dwight Foster, who had 
resigned, and in 1805 reelected him for the term of six 
years. After the expiration of his term as Senator, 1711, 
he was chosen by the legislature a member of the executive 
council. During the war of 181 2 he was appointed a mem- 
ber of the Board of War for the defense of the State. In 
1 81 4 he was returned to Congress and held his seat till 
March, 181 7, when he finally retired to private life. Died 
January 29, 1829. In 1867 his biography was published by 
his son Octavius. 




TIMOTHY PICKERING. 




JOHN MARSHALL. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 99 

Charles LEE, of Virginia, Attorney-General, was ap- 
pointed Secretary of State ad interim May 13, 1800. 

John Marshall was born in Fauquier County, Va., 
September 24, 1755, and was the oldest of fifteen children; 
had some classical education in his youth, but his opportu- 
nities for learning were limited, and he never entered college, 
his father, Thomas Marshall, being a poor man, but pos- 
sessed of superior talents. At the commencement of the 
Revolutionary war he espoused the cause of liberty with 
ardor; in 1776 was appointed lieutenant, and in 1777 pro- 
moted to the rank of captain; in 1780 was admitted to the 
bar; in 1781 resigned his commission and entered upon the 
practice of his profession, soon rising to distinction; was a 
member of the Virginia Convention to ratify the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, and as such produced a deep 
impression by his logic and eloquence; also entered the 
legislature of Virginia, where he was a leader. President 
Washington invited him to become Attorney-General, and 
tendered him the mission to France after Mr. Monroe's re- 
turn, both of which honors he declined. President Adams 
appointed him an Envoy to France, with Pickering and 
Gerry, but they were not accredited, and he returned to the 
United States in 1798; was Representative in Congress in 
1799; in 1800 was appointed Secretary of War, which office 
he declined; was appointed Secretary of State May 13, 1800, 
and retired March 4, 1801; January 31, 1801, upon the 
nomination of President Adams, was confirmed as Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He 
wrote a life of George Washington and a History of the 
American Colonies. Died in Philadelphia July 6, 1836. As 
a judge he was most illustrious, and for his public service 
was ranked by many with Washington. He was the object 
of universal affection, respect, and confidence, and in every 
particular one of the greatest and best of men. 



ioo History and Functions of the Department of State. 

Levi Lincoln, of Massachusetts (Attorney-General), 
entered upon duties as Secretary of State ad interim March 
4, 1 801; retired May 1, 1801. 

James Madison was born on the banks of the Rappa- 
hannock River, Virginia, March 16, 1751; after due prepa- 
ration entered Princeton College in 1769 and graduated in 
1 771, going through the junior and senior studies in one 
year; remained at the college until 1772, for the purpose of 
studying Hebrew; in 1776 was sent to the general assembly; 
in 1778 was a member of the Executive Council; from 1779 
to 1785 was a member of the Continental Congress, and was 
again elected in 1786; was a member of the " Convention at 
Philadelphia " which framed the Federal Constitution, and 
signed that instrument; was a Representative in Congress 
from Virginia, under the Constitution, from 1789 to 1797; 
was one of those who voted for locating the seat of govern- 
ment on the Potomac; in 1798 went again into the assembly; 
in 1800 was an elector for President; was appointed Secre- 
tary of State March 5, 1801, and entered upon his duties 
May 2, 180 1 ; retired March j, 1809, when he was elected 
President of the United States, and served two entire terms; 
after leaving the Executive chair he retired to private life on 
his estate, known as Montpelier; was subsequently a visitor 
and rector of the University of Virginia; in 1829 was a 
member of the State Convention, which was the last public 
position he held. He was one of the contributors to the 
Federalist, and his collected State papers and miscellaneous 
writings have been published in several volumes. His 
Report of the Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 
has been accepted as a political text-book of great value. 
Died at Montpelier, Orange County, Va., June 28, 1836. 
A work on his life and times was published by William C. 
Rives in 1861. 




JAMES MADISON. 




ROBERT SMITH. 




JAMES MONROE. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 101 

Robert Smith was born in Lancaster, Pa., November, 
1757; was graduated from Princeton in 1781, and was present 
at the battle of Brandywine as a volunteer; studied law and 
practiced in Baltimore; was Presidential elector in 1789; 
was elected a State senator in 1793; from 1796 till 1800 
served as a member of the house of delegates, and from 1798 
till 1 801 sat in the first branch of the city council of Balti- 
more; was Secretary of the Navy from January 26, 1802, 
till 1805; United States Attorney-General from March till 
December, 1805; Secretary of State from March 6, 1809, 
till April /, 18 11; was appointed chancellor of Maryland, 
and chief judge of the district of Baltimore, but declined; 
was offered the embassy to Russia, which he declined; was 
president of an auxiliary of the American Bible Society in 
1 81 3; was president of the Maryland Agricultural Society 
ini8i8; ini8i3 succeeded Archbishop John Carroll as pro- 
vost of the University of Maryland. Died in Baltimore 
November 26, 1842. 

James Monroe was born April 28, 1758, in Westmore- 
land County, Va.; was educated at William and Mary Col- 
lege; in 1776 joined the Army in the Revolutionary war, 
and continued with it till 1778, displaying great bravery; 
then retired and engaged in the study of law; in 1780 held 
the position of military commissioner for Virginia, and in 
that capacity visited the Southern army; in 1782 was a 
member of the Virginia assembly, and in 1783 was a Dele- 
gate to Congress; in 1788 was a member of the convention 
in Virginia to deliberate on the proposed Constitution for 
the United States; in 1790 was elected a Senator of the 
United States from Virginia; in 1794 received the appoint- 
ment of minister plenipotentiary to France, and was re- 
called in 1797; in 1799 was elected governor of Virginia; 
in 1802 was sent on a special mission to France, which re- 



io2 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

suited in the purchase of Louisiana; in 1803 was appointed 
minister to England; in 1805 was associated with Charles 
Pinckney to negotiate with Spain; during his residence in 
England he and Mr. William Pinkney negotiated a com- 
mercial treaty with Great Britain, but it was never submit- 
ted to the Senate by President Jefferson; returned to Amer- 
ica in 1808; in 181 1 was governor of Virginia, and April 
2, 181 1, entered upon his duties as Secretary of State; 
while Secretary of War was ad interim Secretary of State, 
September 30, 181 4; was again commissioned Secretary of 
State February 28, i8ij; retired March j, 181 "/; during a 
part of the time in 1814 and 181 5 he also performed the 
duties of Secretary of War; was again elected President in 
1821; died July 4, 1831. 

John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree (now Quincy), 
Mass., May 11, 1767. When 10 years of age accompanied 
his father to France, and when 15 was private secretary to 
the American minister in Russia; graduated at Harvard 
University in 1787; studied law in Newburyport, and set- 
tled in Boston. From 1794 to 1801 was American minister 
to Holland, England, Sweden, and Prussia; was a Senator in 
Congress from 1803 to 1808; professor of rhetoric in Har- 
vard University, with limited duties, from 1806 to 1808. 
In 1809 was appointed minister to Russia; assisted in nego- 
tiating the treaty of Ghent, in 181 4; assisted also as minister 
at the convention of commerce with Great Britain, in 181 5; 
zvas commissioned Secretary of State March 5, 18 ij, and 
entered upon his duties September 22, 18 17; retired March 
4, 18 '25; was chosen President of the United States in 1825, 
serving one term. In 1831 was elected a Representative in 
Congress and continued in that position till his death, which 
occurred in the Speaker's room two days after falling from 




JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 




HENRY CLAY. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 103 

his seat in the House of Representatives, February 23, 1848. 
His last words were, " This is the end of earth; I am con- 
tent." He was chairman of several of the most important 
committees, and always a working member of the House. 
He published Letters on Silesia, Lectures on Rhetoric and 
Oratory, and various Poems, besides many occasional letters 
and speeches. His unpublished writings, it is said, would 
make many volumes. An elaborate history of his life was 
published in 1875, edited by his son, Charles Francis Adams. 

John Graham, Chief Clerk, was appointed ad interim 
Secretary March 4, 181 7; retired March 10, 181 7. 

Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania (Attorney-General), en- 
tered upon the duties as Secretary of State ad interim March 
10, 181 7, and retired September 22, 181 7. 

Daniel Brent, Chief Clerk, ad interim, March 4, 1825; 
retired March 7, 1825. 

Henry Clay was born in Hanover County, Va., April 12, 
1777; received a common school education; became at an 
early age a copyist in the office of the clerk of the court of 
chancery, at Richmond; at the age of 19 commenced the 
study of law ; shortly afterwards removed to Lexington, Ky., 
where he was admitted to the bar in 1799, and soon attained 
extensive practice ; began his political career by taking an 
active part in the election of delegates to frame a new con- 
stitution for the State of Kentucky; in 1803 was elected to 
the legislature; in 1806 was appointed to the United States 
Senate for the remainder of the term of General Adair, who 
had resigned; in 1807 was again elected a member of the 
general assembly of Kentucky, and was chosen speaker ; in 
the following year fought a duel with Humphrey Marshall ; 



104 History and Functions -of the Department of State. 

in 1809 was elected to the United States Senate for the nil- 
expired term of Mr. Thnrston, resigned ; in 181 1 was elected 
a member of the Honse of Representatives; was chosen 
Speaker on the first, day of his appearance in that body, and 
was five times reelected to this office ; during this session 
his eloquence aroused the country to resist the aggressions 
of Great Britain, and awakened a national spirit; in 181 4 
was appointed one of the Commissioners to negotiate a 
Treaty of Peace at Ghent ; returning from this mission was 
reelected to Congress, and in 18 18 spoke in favor of recog- 
nizing the independence of the South American Republic ; 
in the same year put forth his strength in behalf of the 
national system of internal improvements; a monument 
of stone inscribed with his name was erected on the Cum- 
berland Road to commemorate his services in behalf of 
that improvement; in the session of 1819-20 he exerted him- 
self for the establishment of protection of American indus- 
try; this was followed by services in adjusting the Missouri 
Compromise; after the settlement of these questions he with- 
drew from Congress in order to attend to his private affairs; 
in 1823 returned to Congress and was reelected Speaker, and 
at this session exerted himself in support of the independ- 
ence of Greece; was appointed Secretary of State by Presi- 
dent John Quincy Adams and entered upon his duties March 
7, 1825; retired March j, 1829. The attack upon Mr. 
Adams's Administration, and especially upon the Secretary 
of State, by John Randolph, led to the hostile meeting be- 
tween him and Mr. Clay, which terminated without blood- 
shed; in 1829 returned to Kentucky, and in 183 1 was elected 
to the United States Senate, where he commenced his labors 
in favor of the tariff; in the same month of his reappearance 
in the Senate was unanimously nominated for President of 
the United States; in 1836 was reelected to the Senate, where 
he remained until 1842, when he resigned and took his final 




MARTIN VAN BUREN. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 105 

leave as he supposed of that body; in 1839 was again nomi- 
nated for the Presidency, but General Harrison was elected; 
also received the nomination in 1844 for President, and was 
defeated in his election by Mr. Polk; remained in retirement 
in Kentucky until 1849, when he was again elected to the 
Senate of the United States for the term ending in 1855; 
here he devoted all his energies to the measures known as 
the Compromise acts; his efforts during this session impaired 
his strength, and he went, for his health, to Havana and New 
Orleans, but with no permanent advantage; returned to 
Washington, but was unable to participate in the active 
duties of the Senate, and resigned his seat, to take effect on 
the 6th of September, 1852; died in Washington City June 
29, 1852. His " Life and Letters " and also his " Speeches " 
were published in several volumes by the late Calvin Colton. 

James Alexander Hamilton was born in New York 
City April 14, 1788; was graduated from Columbia in 1805; 
served in the war of 181 2-1 81 5 as brigade-major and 
inspector in the New York State Militia, and afterwards 
practiced law; zvas appointed Secretary of State, ad interim, 
by President Jackson, and entered up07t his duties as such 
March 4, 1829; retired from the office March 2j, 1829; 
April 3 he was nominated United States District Attorney 
for the southern district of New York; the degree of UU. D. 
was conferred upon him by Hamilton College; he published 
Reminiscences of Hamilton, or Men and Events, At Home 
and Abroad, During Three-Quarters of a Century, in 1869. 
Died in Irvington, N. Y., September 24, 1878. 

Martin Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, N. Y., 
December 5, 1782; rose to eminence in his State both as 
a lawyer and as a Democratic politician; was noted as an 
adroit party manager, and was styled in his time as the 



io6 History and Functions of the Depart7nent of State. 

"Little Magician;" he was a State senator, United States Sen- 
ator, 1 821-1828; governor, 1 828-1 829, and was appointed 
Secretary of State March 6, 1829, and entered upon his 
dtUies March 28, 1829; retired May 23, 1831. President 
Jackson, in 1831, appointed him United States Minister to 
England, but the Senate refused to confirm the nomination; 
was elected with Jackson for the latter's second term, 
serving as Vice-President, 1 833-1 837, and was the chosen 
heir to the succession, being elected by 1 70 votes over the 
Whig candidate, Harrison, in 1836; among the features of 
public interest in the Administration were the disastrous 
panic in 1837, the independent Treasury system, and the 
preemption law; in 1840 he was pitted against his former 
antagonist, but was defeated, receiving only 60 electoral 
votes; in 1844 Bx-President Van Buren had a majority, but 
not two-thirds majority of votes in the Democratic National 
Convention; he opposed the annexation of Texas, and was 
discarded for Polk; in 1848 he was the Free Soil candidate, 
and diverted enough Democratic votes to defeat Cass and 
elect Taylor. Died, July 24, 1862. 

Edward Livingston was born at Claremont, Livingston 
Manor, New York, 1764 ; graduated from Princeton College 
in 1 781; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1785; 
pursued his profession until 1795, when he was elected a 
Representative to Congress from New York City, serving 
until 1802; was then appointed United States attorney for 
the district of New York, and was also mayor of the city; 
removed to New Orleans in 1804, and became eminent there 
as a lawyer; during the invasion of Louisiana by the British 
acted as an aid to General Jackson; was employed in nego- 
tiations for the exchange of prisoners after the war; was 
elected a Representative in Congress from Louisiana from 
1823 to 1829; was a Senator of the United States from 1829 




EDWARD LIVINGSTON. 




LOUIS McLANE. 




JOHN FORSYTH. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 107 

to 1 83 1 ; was appointed by President Jackson Secretary of 
State, and entered upon his duties May 24, 183 1; retired 
May 29, 1833; in 1833 was made Minister to France; his 
Penal Code is considered a monument of his profound 
learning. Died at Rhinebeck, N. Y., May 23, 1836. 

Louis McLane was born in Smyrna, Kent County, Del., 
May 28, 1784; when 12 years of age was appointed a mid- 
shipman in the Navy, on leaving which, in 1801, he studied 
law, and was admitted to the bar in 1807; in 181 2 was a 
volunteer in a company commanded by Caesar H. Rodney 
and marched to the relief of Baltimore when threatened by 
the British; was a Representative in Congress from Delaware 
from 1817 to 1827, a Senator in Congress from 1827 to 
1829; m the ^tter year was appointed by President Jackson 
minister to England, where he remained two years; in 1831 
received the appointment of Secretary of the Treasury; 
was appointed Secretary of State by President Jackson and 
entered upon his duties May 29, 1833; retired June 30, 1834; 
in 1837 was chosen president of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad Company, removing to Maryland; discharged the 
duties of that office till 1847; during the Administration of 
President Polk accepted the mission to England while the 
Oregon negotiations were pending, after which he returned 
to Maryland, and in 1850 represented Cecil County in the 
State constitutional convention; held a high rank as a states- 
man. Died in Baltimore, Md., in 1857. 

John Forsyth was born in Fredericksburg, Va., Octo- 
ber 2, 1780; graduated from Princeton College in 1799; 
removed with his father to Charleston, S. C, and afterwards 
to Augusta, Ga.; studied law, and from 1802 to 1808 dis- 
tinguished himself at the Georgia bar; in 1808 was attorney- 
general of the State; was a Representative in Congress from 
Georgia from 1813 to 1818 and from 1823 to 1827; was 



io8 History and Functions of tlie Department of State. 

United States Senator during the years 1818 and 181 9 and 
from 1829 t° ^-^37^ serving as chairman of the Committee 
on Commerce; was governor of Georgia in 1827, I <328, and 
1829; was minister to Spain from 181 9 to 1822; was 
appointed Secretary of State fune 27, 1834, and entered 
upon his duties July /, 1834; retired March 3 ', 18 41, having 
been continued as Secretary by President Va?i Buren till 
the end of his Administration. His superior abilities were 
universally acknowledged, and the dignity and elegance 
of his manners added much to his popularity. Died in 
Washington City, of bilious fever, October 21, 1841. 

J. Iy. Martin, of North Carolina (Chief Clerk), entered 
upon duties as Secretary of State ad interim, March 3, 1841; 
retired March 4, 1841. 

Daniel Webster was born in the town of Salisbury, 
N. H., January 18, 1782; his opportunities for education 
were very limited, and he was indebted to his mother for 
his earliest instruction; for a few months only, in 1796, 
enjoyed the advantages of Phillips Exeter Academy; here 
his preparation for college began, and it was completed at 
Barcawen; entered Dartmouth College in 1797, and grad- 
uated in 1 801; soon after graduating engaged in professional 
studies, first in his native village and afterwards at Fryebury, 
in Maine, where at the same time he had charge of the 
academy, and was also a copyist in the office of the reg- 
ister of deeds. Having completed his legal studies, was 
admitted to the bar of Suffolk, Mass., in the year 1805; 
commenced the practice of law in his native State and 
county; in 1807 removed to Portsmouth, N. H., and soon 
became engaged in a respectable but not lucrative practice; 
in 181 2 was chosen a Representative in Congress from New 
Hampshire and was reelected; removed to Boston in 181 6, 




DAN IEL WEBSTER. 



I 






History and Functions of the Department of State. 109 

and was at once placed beside the leaders of the Massachu- 
setts bar; by his argument in the Dartmouth College case, 
carried by appeal to Washington in 181 7, he took rank 
among the most distinguished lawyers in the country; in 1820 
was chosen a member of the convention for revising the con- 
stitution of Massachusetts; was offered about this time nomi- 
nation as Senator of the United States, but declined it; in 1822 
was elected a Representative in Congress from the city of 
Boston; took his seat in December, 1823, an< ^ early in the 
session made his celebrated speech on the Greek Revolution 
which at once established his reputation as one of the first 
statesmen of the age; was reelected in 1826, and under the 
Presidency of John Quincy Adams was the leader of the 
friends of the Administration, first in the House of Repre- 
sentatives and afterwards in the Senate, to which he was 
elected in 1827. His speech on the Panama mission was 
made in the first session of the Nineteenth Congress. When 
the tariff law of 1824 was brought forward he spoke against 
it on the ground of expediency; remained in the Senate for 
a period of twelve years. In 1830 made what is generally 
regarded the ablest of his parliamentary efforts, his second 
speech in reply to Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina. 
Mr. Webster, although opposed to the Administration of 
General Jackson, gave it a cordial support in its measures 
for the defense of the Union in 1832 and 1833, but opposed 
its financial system. In 1839 he made a short visit to 
Europe. His fame had preceded him and he was received 
with the attention due to his character and talents at the 
French and English courts. President Harrison appointed 
him Secretary of State and he entered upon his duties March 
5, 18 41 ; retired May #, 1843, having been continued as Sec- 
retary by President Tyler. President Tyler's Cabinet was 
broken up in 1841, but Mr. Webster remained as his Secre- 
tary of State; was returned to the Senate of the United 



no History and Functions of the Department of State. 

States in 1845; remained in that body until 1850, when he 
Teas appointed by President Fillmore Secretary of State, and 
entered upon his duties July 22, 1850; died while in office 
October 24, 1852. In December, 1850, the famous Hulse- 
mann letter was written. In 1851, by his judicious man- 
agement of the Cuban question, he obtained from the Spanish 
Go eminent the pardon of the followers of Lopez, who had 
been deported from Spain; about the same time received 
from the English Government an apology for the interfer- 
ence of a British cruiser with an American steamer in the 
waters of Nicaragua; this was the second time that the 
British Government had made a similar concession at the 
instance of Mr. Webster, the first was in reference to the 
destruction of the Caroline at Schlosser; and it is under- 
stood that it was on the strength of a private letter that he 
addressed to Lord Palmerston that John F. Crampton was 
made Minister Plenipotentiary to Washington. When not 
engaged in public business at Washington, he was either at 
Marshfield, Mass., or the place of his birth in New Hamp- 
shire, where he paid much attention to agriculture and his 
residence. The works of Mr. Webster were published in 
six volumes, with biographical memoir by Edward Everett. 
In 1857 two volumes of his private correspondence were 
published by his son, Fletcher Webster, subsequently killed 
in battle during the Rebellion, in 1862. A complete life of 
this statesman, in two volumes, was published by George T. 
Curtis. 

Hugh S. Legare was born in Charleston, S. C, January 
2, 1789; graduated from college in that State 1814, and 
after having studied law went to Europe, where he remained 
until 1820, occupied with the pursuits of literature; on his 
return to Charleston devoted himself to the practice of his 
profession and to agricultural pursuits; in 1830 was appointed 




ABEL P. UPSHUR. 



History and Functions of the Department of State, in 

attorney-general of the State, and was the principal editor 
of the Southern Review; in 1832 was charge d'affaires at 
Brussels, Belgium; from 1837 to 1839 was a Representative 
of South Carolina in Congress; in 1841 was appointed by 
President Tyler Attorney-General of the United States; was 
appointed Secretary of State ad interim and entered upon 
his duties May 9, 1843; died suddenly at Boston June 20, 
1843, while accompanying the President in his journey to 
attend the Bunker Hill celebration. His fine taste as a 
writer, his eminent acquirements as a scholar, and his learn- 
ing and eloquence as a lawyer were known and appreciated 
throughout the Union. His writings were collected and 
published in 1846. 

William S. Derrick, of Pennsylvania (Chief Clerk), 
entered upon duties as Secretary of State ad interim June 
21, 1843; retired June 24, 1843. 

Abel P. Upshur was born in Northampton County, Va., 
June 17, 1790; graduated from Nassau Hall in 1807; studied 
law and was admitted to the bar; located in Richmond, 
where he practiced his profession from 1810 to 1824; i n 
1826 was chosen judge of the general court of the State; 
was a member of the State constitutional convention in 
1829; was a g a i n chosen judge, serving many years; in 1841 
went into the Cabinet of President Tyler as Secretary of the 
Navy; whit:- Secretary of the Navy was appointed Secretary 
of State ad interim, entering upon his duties as such June 
24, 1843, and was commissioned Secretary of State July 24, 
184.3; on th e 2 8th of February, 1844, was killed by the 
explosion of a gun on board the war steamer Princeton. 

John Nelson, Attorney-General, was born in Frederick, 
Md., June 1, 1791. He was the son of Roger Nelson, who 



ii2 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

was a brigadier-general in the Revolutionary Army, and was 
left for dead on the field of Camden, but recovered and after- 
wards became a member of Congress and district judge of 
Maryland. John Nelson was sent to William and Mary 
College, where he was graduated in 1811. He took up the 
.study of law, and two years later was admitted to the bar 
and began practice. Very little is recorded of his after life, 
except that he was a Democrat in politics; was a member 
of Congress two years, from 1821; was appointed United 
States minister to the court of Naples in 1831 by President 
Jackson, of whom he was an enthusiastic supporter; was 
appointed Attorney-General of the United States by Presi- 
dent Tyler January 2, 1844, succeeding Hugh S. Uegare, 
who died in office; was appointed by President Tyler Sec- 
retary of State ad interim and entered upon his duties Feb- 
ruary 29, 1844; retired March j 1 , 184.4. Died in Baltimore, 
Md., January 28, i860. 

John C. Calhoun was born in Abbeville district, South 
Carolina, March 18, 1782, of an Irish family; at the age of 
13 years was put under the charge of his brother-in-law, 
Dr. Waddell, in Columbia County, Ga.; entered Yale Col- 
lege in 1802 and graduated with distinction; studied law at 
Litchfield, Conn., and in 1807 was admitted to the bar of 
South Carolina; the next year entered the legislature of 
that State, where he served for two sessions with ability and 
distinction; in 181 1 was elected to Congress; became Sec- 
retary of War under President Monroe, and conducted the 
affairs of that Department with energy and ability for seven 
years; in 1824 was elected Vice-President; in 1831, upon 
General Hayne's leaving the Senate to become governor of 
South Carolina, Mr. Calhoun resigned the Vice-Presidency 
and was elected by the legislature of South Carolina a mem- 
ber of the United States Senate; after the expiration of his 




JOHN C. CALHOUN. 




JAMES BUCHANAN. 



History and Functions of the Depart7nent of State. 113 

Senatorial term went voluntarily into retirement; was com- 
missioned Secretary of State March 6, 1844, a?id entered 
upon the duties of the office April i, 1844; retired March 
10, 1845. In 1845 was a g am elected Senator, which office 
he held till his decease. From 181 1, when he entered 
Congress, till his death, he was rarely absent from Wash- 
ington, and during the greater part of that period was in the 
public service of his State and country. He entered Con- 
gress at a time of unusual excitement preceding the decla- 
ration of war of 1 81 2, and exercised great influence in favor 
of that measure. In the difficulties and embarrassments 
upon the termination of war and the transition to a peace 
establishment he took a responsible part. 

As a presiding officer of the Senate he was punctual, 
methodical, and accurate, and had a high regard for the 
dignity of the body, which he endeavored to preserve and 
maintain. His connection with nullification, his views on 
the tariff, his opinion in regard to slavery and the many 
and exciting questions arising from it, are well known. He 
shaped the course and molded the opinions of the people ol 
his own State, and of some other Southern States, upcn all 
these subjects. Amid all the strifes of party politics, there 
always existed between him and his political opponents a 
great degree of personal kindness. He died in Washington 
D. C, March 31, 1850. His collected writings and speeches 
were published in six volumes, in 1854 to 1857, accom- 
panied with a biography. 

James Buchanan was born in Franklin County, Pa., 
April 23, 1 791; after a regular course of classical education 
studied and practiced law in Lancaster, Pa.; in 1814 was 
elected to the State legislature, and was reelected the next 
year; in 1821 entered Congress as a Representative from 
the Lancaster district, and continued to be returned till 



ii4 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

1831, when he declined a reelection; in 1832 was appointed 
by President Jackson minister to Russia; on his return from 
that mission, in 1834, was elected by the legislature to the 
Senate of the United States to fill the unexpired term of 
William Wilkins, who had resigned; was reelected in 1837 
and in 1843; m I ^45 resigned his seat in the Senate, and 
7cas commissioned Secretary of State March 6, 1845, and 
entered upon his duties March u ) 1845; retired March 7, 
1849; at the close of the eventful administration of Presi- 
dent Polk he retired to private life at his residence, 
" Wheatland," near Lancaster; was again summoned to the 
public service in 1853, when he accepted from President 
Pierce the place of minister of the United States to the 
Court of St. James; resigned this office and returned home 
in 1856; in the summer of that year received the Demo- 
cratic nomination for President of the United States; was 
elected and served till the commencement of the rebellion 
in 1861; in 1865 he published a book giving a history of 
the close of his Administration. Died at Wheatland, Pa., 
June 1, 1868. 

John M. Clayton was born in Sussex County, Del., 
July 24, 1796; graduated at Yale College in 1815; was bred 
to the bar, having studied law in the office of John Clayton, 
and for a time in the law school in Litchfield, Conn. ; com- 
menced practice in 181 8, and soon attained immense popu- 
larity in his profession; in 1824 was elected to the State 
legislature, and subsequently secretary of state of Delaware; 
in 1829 was chosen United States Senator; reelected 
1835; resigned in December, 1836; in January, 1837, was 
appointed chief justice of Delaware, which office he resigned 
in 1839; was again elected to the United States Senate in 
1845; resigned and was commissioned Secretary of State 
by President Taylor March 7, 1849, and entered upon his 




JOHN M. CLAYTON, 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 115 

duties the same date; retired July 22, 1S50, upon the death 
of Taylor, in July, 1850; during this period he negotiated 
the famous Clayton-Bulwer treaty; was for the third time 
elected to the Senate; took his seat March, 1851; died a 
Senator November 9, 1856. During his last term in the 
Senate he vindicated with marked ability the principles of 
the treaty which he inaugurated. At the bar he was a 
learned lawyer and eloquent advocate, and during his whole 
career acquitted himself uprightly, with dignity, and with 
recognized ability. 

Daniel Webster; of Massachusetts, entered upon duties 
July 22, 1850; died October 24, 1852. This was Mr. 
Webster's second appointment. (See biography, p. 108). 

Charles M. Conrad was born in Winchester, Va., about 
1804. He went with his father to Mississippi and thence 
to Louisiana while an infant; received a liberal education; 
studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1828, and prac- 
ticed in New Orleans; served several years in the State 
legislature; was elected to the United States Senate as a 
Whig in the place of Alexander Mouton, who had resigned, 
and served from April 14, 1842, till March 3, 1843; * n ^44 
he was a member of the State constitutional convention; 
was elected to Congress in 1848 and served till August, 
1850, when he was appointed Secretary of War by Presi- 
dent Fillmore; was commissioned Secretary of State ad 
interim September 2, 1852, entered upon his duties same 
date, and retired November 6, 1852; was one of the 
leaders of the secession movement in Louisiana in Decern- 
ber, i860, a deputy from Louisiana in Montgomery provi- 
sional Congress of 1861, a member of the First and Second 
Confederate Congresses in 1862— 1864, and also served as a 
brigadier-general in the Confederate Army. Died in New 
Orleans, La., February 11, 1878. 



n6 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

Edward Everett was born in Dorchester, Mass., April, 
1794; received his early education in Boston, and entered 
Harvard College when little more than 13 years old, leaving 
it with honors; four years later, undecided as to a pursuit 
for life, turned his attention for two years to the profession 
of divinity; in 181 4 was invited to accept the new professor- 
ship of Greek literature at Cambridge, Mass., with permis- 
sion to visit Europe; accepted the office, and before entering 
upon its duties embarked at Boston for Liverpool; passed 
more than two years at the famous University of Gottingen 
engaged in the study of the German language and the 
branches of learning connected with his department; passed 
the winter of 181 7 and 181 8 in Paris; the next spring again 
visited Eondon and passed a few weeks at Cambridge and 
Oxford; in the autumn of 181 8 returned to the Continent 
and divided the winter between Florence, Rome, and Naples; 
in the spring of 181 9 made a short tour in Greece; came 
home in 181 9 and entered at once upon the duties of his 
professorship; soon after his return he became the editor 
of the North American Review, a journal which, though 
supported by writers of great ability, had acquired only 
a limited circulation; under its new editor the demand 
increased so rapidly that a second and sometimes a third 
edition of its numbers was required; in 1824 delivered the 
annual oration before the Phi-Beta-Kappa Society at Cam- 
bridge, Mass.; this was the first of a series of orations 
and addresses delivered by him on public occasions of 
almost every kind during a quarter of a century, and after- 
wards collected in several volumes; up to 1824 ne na -d 
taken no active interest in politics, but the constituency of 
Middlesex, Mass., without any solicitation on his part, 
elected him to Congress for five consecutive terms. In 1835 
retired from Congress, and was for four successive years 




EDWARD EVERETT. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 117 

chosen governor of Massachusetts. In 1841 was appointed 
to represent the United States at the Court of St. James. 
His scholarship was recognized by the bestowal of the 
degree of D. C. L., by the universities of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge; returned to America in 1845, an( ^ was chosen 
president of Harvard College, which office he resigned in 
1849 5 on tne d ea -th of Mr. Webster, zvas appointed Secretary 
of State by President Fillmore, and entered upon his duties 
November 6, 1852, same day he was covnnissioned; retired 
March, j, 1833, and took a seat in the United States Senate; 
this position he also resigned, after which time, although 
leading the quiet life of a scholar, he greatly added to his 
reputation by delivering orations on the life of Washington 
and other topics, all being for charitable purposes ; was the 
intimate friend of Daniel Webster, and wrote the life of that 
distinguished man, whose collected writings he edited. In 
i860 was nominated by the Union party as their candidate 
for the office of Vice-President of the United States, but was 
defeated. His last public position was that of Presidential 
elector, in 1864. Died in Boston, January 15, 1865. 

William Hunter was born in Newport, R. I., Novem- 
ber 8, 1805; entered the United States Military Academy, 
but left in two years on account of trouble with his eyes; 
studied law and practiced in New Orleans, Ua., and Provi- 
dence, R. I., till 1829, when he accepted a clerkship in the 
Department of State of the United States; while Chief Clerk 
of the Department he was appointed ad interim Secretary, 
and entered upon his duties March 3, 1833; retired March 
6, 1853; was a second time appointed Secretary ad interim, 
and entered upon his duties December 13, i860, and retired 
December 16. Was appointed Second Assistant Secretary of 
State July 27, 1866. Died in Washington, D. C, July 22> 
1886. 



n8 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

William Larned Marcy was born in Stnrbridge, 
Worcester County, Mass., in 1786; graduated from Brown 
University in 1808; taught school for a while in Newport, 
R. L; studied law, and commenced practice in Fray, New 
York; was appointed recorder of that city in 1816; made 
comptroller in 1823, an( ^ removed to Albany; in 1829 was 
appointed judge of the supreme court of the State; was 
elected to the United States Senate in 1831; resigned in 
1833, having served as chairman of the Judiciary Commit- 
tee; was elected governor of New York in 1832, and 
reelected in 1834 and 1836; was Secretary of War under 
President Polk from 1845 to 1849; was appointed Secretary 
of State by President Pierce and e7itered upon his duties 
March 7, 185 j; retired March 6, 1857; was a hard-working, 
careful, plain man, and a good scholar; as a statesman and 
diplomatist he had a reputation of displaying both judgment 
and skill, but his crowning virtue was his incorruptible 
integrity. Died at Ballston Spa, N. Y., July 4, 1857. 

Lewis Cass was born in Exeter, N. H., October 9, 1782; 
received a limited education in his native place; at the early 
age of 17 he crossed the Allegheny Mountains on foot, to 
seek a home in the "Great West," then an almost unex- 
plored wilderness, and settled at Marietta, Ohio; studied 
law, was admitted to the bar, and was successful in practice; 
was elected at 25 to the legislature of Ohio; originated the 
bill which arrested the proceedings of Aaron Burr, and, as 
stated by Mr. Jefferson, was the first blow given to what is 
known as "Burr's conspiracy;" in 1807 was appointed by 
President Jefferson marshal of the State, and held the office 
until the latter part of 181 1, when he volunteered to repel 
Indian aggressions on the frontier; was elected colonel of the 
Third Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, and entered the mili- 
tary service of the United States at the commencement of 




WILLIAM L. MARCY. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 119 

the war of 181 2; having by a difficult march reached Detroit, 
he urged the immediate invasion of Canada, and was the 
author of the proclamation of that event; was the first to 
land in arms on the enemy's shore, and a small detachment 
of troops fought and won the first battle, that of the Taron- 
toe; when Detroit was surrendered he was absent on impor- 
tant service, and regretted that his command and himself 
had been included in the capitulation; he was liberated on 
parole, and at once repaired to the seat of Government to 
report the causes of the disaster and the failure of the 
campaign; was immediately appointed a colonel in the 
Regular Army, and soon after promoted to the rank of 
brigadier-general, having in the meantime been elected 
major-general of the Ohio volunteers; on being exchanged 
and released from parole, he again repaired to the fron- 
tier, and joined the Army for the recovery of Michigan; 
being at that time without a command, he served and dis- 
tinguished himself as a volunteer aid-de-camp to General 
Harrison at the battle of the Thames; was appointed by 
President Madison, in October, 181 3, governor of Michigan; 
he administered the complex affairs of his office most suc- 
cessfully; under his sway peace was preserved between the 
whites and the treacherous and disaffected Indians, law and 
order established, and the Territory rapidly advanced in 
population, resources, and prosperity; held this position till 
July, 1 83 1, when he was appointed by President Jackson 
Secretary of War; in the latter part of 1836 President Jackson 
appointed him minister to France, where he remained till 
1842, when he asked to be recalled; in January, 1845, was 
elected to the Senate of the United States, which position he 
resigned on his nomination in May, 1848, as a candidate for 
the Presidency; after the election of his opponent (General 
Taylor) to that office, he was reelected to the Senate for the 
unexpired portion of his original term of six years; when 
4089 — 01 1 3 



120 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

Mr. Buchanan became President he was appointed Secretary 
of State, and entered upon his duties March 6, 1857; retired 
December 12, i860. He devoted some attention to literary 
pursuits, and his writings, speeches, and State papers would 
make several volumes, among which is one entitled France, 
its King, Court, and Government, published in 1 840. Died 
in Detroit June 17, 1866. 

William Hunter, of Rhode Island (Chief Clerk), entered 
upon duties as Secretary of State, ad interim, December 13, 
i860; retired December 16, i860. 

Jeremiah S. Black was born in the Glades, Somerset 
County, Pa., January 10, 1810; studied law, and was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1830; in 1842 was appointed presiding 
judge of the judicial district in which he lived; in 1851 was 
elected to the State supreme court, and made chief justice; 
was reelected in 1854; was appointed by President Buchanan 
March 5, 1857, Attorney-General of the United States; was 
appointed Secretary of State and entered npon his duties 
December 17, i860; retired March 5, 1861; resumed the 
practice of law. Died August 19, 1883. 

Wilxjam H. Seward was born in Florida, Orange County, 
N. Y., May 16, 1801; graduated from Union College in 1820; 
studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1822; settled at 
Auburn, N. Y., in 1823; ^ n z ^3° was elected to the State 
senate for four years; in 1834, as a Whig, was an unsuccessful 
candidate for governor of the State; in 1838 was renominated 
and was elected for two years; in 1843 resumed the practice 
of his profession at Auburn, attending chiefly to business in 
the Federal courts; in 1841 was chosen United States Senator 
for six years, and took his seat at the extra session called to 
consider the nominations of President Tavlor; was reelected 




JEREMIAH S. BLACK. 




WILLIAM H. SEWARD 




ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 121 

in 1855, and held the position until appointed Secretary of 
State by President Lincoln; was commissioned Secretary 
of State March j, 1861, and entered tipon his duties the fol- 
lowing day; retired March j, 1869; on the night of the 
assassination of President Lincoln, April 14, 1865, while 
confined to his bed by serious illness, an attempt was made 
to take his life also; the assassin, named Payne, inflicted a 
severe wound with a knife, from the effects of which, after 
much suffering, he finally recovered and resumed his duties 
in the Cabinet; in 1849 published the "Life and Public 
Services of John Quincy Adams." His own life and col- 
lected speeches were published in 4 volumes, between 1853 
and 1862, edited by George E. Baker; in 1871 made the tour 
of the world. Died at Auburn, N. Y., October 10, 1872. 

Elihu B. Washburne was born in Livermore, Oxford 
County, Me., September 23, 181 6; served an apprenticeship 
in the printing office of the Kennebec Journal; studied law 
at Harvard University; removed to the west and engaged 
in the practice of law at Galena, 111.; was elected a Repre- 
sentative to the Thirty-third Congress from that State, and 
reelected to the Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, and Thirty-sixth 
Congresses; was chairman of the Committee on Commerce; 
was also reelected to the Thirty-seventh Congress, again 
serving as chairman of the Committee on Commerce, as a 
member of the Joint Committee on Library, and also as 
chairman of the Special Committee on Immigration; on 
account of having served continuously for a longer period 
than any other member of the Thirty-eighth Congress, usage 
accorded him the title of " Father of the House; " was the 
author, among many others, of the bill reviving the office 
of Lieutenant-General, which was conferred upon General 
Grant; was reelected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, again 
serving at the head of the Committee on Commerce, as 



122 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

chairman of the Special Committee on the Death of Presi- 
dent Lincoln, and as a member of the Committees on Rules, 
Reconstruction, Air Iyine Railroad to New York, and as 
chairman of the special committee to investigate the Mem- 
phis riots. Two of his brothers also served in Congress, 
namely, Israel, jr., and Cadwallader C.Washburn, who wrote 
their names without the u e "; was reelected to the Fortieth 
Congress; March, 5, 1869, was appointed Secretary of State 
by President Grant; entered upon his duties March 5, 1869; 
retired March //, 1869, to accept the post of minister pleni- 
potentiary to France, continuing in that position till 1877; 
during the Franco-German war gained the fervent regard of 
the German people by extending protection to Germans in 
Paris. Died in Chicago, 111., October 22, 1887. 

Hamilton Fish was born in New York, August 3, 1808; 
graduated from Columbia College in 1827; studied law and 
was admitted to the bar in 1830; was for several years a 
commissioner of deeds for the city and county of New York; 
in 1837 was elected to the State legislature; was a Repre- 
senative in Congress from 1843 to 1845; m ^47 was elected 
to the State senate to fill a vacancy; was governor of New 
York from 1848 to 1850; was a United States Senator from 
1 85 1 to 1857; in 1862 was appointed one of a board of com- 
missioners to relieve Union prisoners in the Southern States, 
and succeeded in negotiating an exchange of prisoners; was 
commissioned Secretary of State by President Grant, March 
11, 1869; entered upon his duties as such March 17, 1869; 
was again commissioned Secretary of State March 17, 
i8yj; retired March 12, 187J; took a conspicuous part 
in negotiating a settlement of the Alabama claims and 
one or two important treaties in 1871 and 1872; from 
the time he left the Senate until he became Secretary of 
State he traveled in Europe; was for a time President 




HAMILTON FISH. 




WILLIAM M. EVARTS. 







JAMES G. BLAINE. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 123 

of the New York Historical Society; died at Garrison, 
N. Y., September 7, 1893. 

William M. Evarts was born in Boston, Mass., in Feb- 
ruary, 1 81 8; graduated from Yale in 1837; studied law at 
Cambridge and was admitted to the bar in New York City 
in 1840; in 1857 he received the degree of doctor of laws 
from Union College; attained a high position as a law- 
yer; was the leading counsel employed to defend President 
Johnson in his trial before the Senate; was Attorney-Gen- 
eral of the United States from July, 1868, to March, 1869, 
when he resigned; was one of the three lawyers appointed 
in the interests of the United States before the Tribunal 
of Arbitration at Geneva in 1871 to settle the "Alabama 
Claims;" was one of the counsel who defended Henry 
Ward Beecher in 1875; in November, 1875, was invited by 
the Centennial Commission to deliver the opening oration 
at the Exposition in 1876, the kindred honor for reciting a 
poem on that occasion having been conferred upon Henry 
W. Longfellow; was appointed Secretary of State by Presi- 
dent Hayes, and entered upon his duties March 12, 18JJ; 
retired March 7, 1881 ; resumed the practice of his profes- 
sion in 1885; was elected United States Senator from New 
York for six years from March 4, 1885. Died in New York 
City February 28, 1901. 

James G. Blaine was born in Washington County, Pa., 
January 31, 1830; graduated from Washington College, 1847; 
accepted the position of editor; removed to Maine; edited 
the Kennebec Journal and Portland Advertiser for several 
years; served for four years in the Maine legislature, two 
years as speaker of the house; in 1862 was elected a Repre- 
sentative from Maine to the Thirty-eighth Congress, serving 
as a member of the Committee on the Post-Office and Post- 
4089 — 01 14 



124 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

Roads; reelected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, serving on 
the Committee on Military Affairs, the special committee 
on the death of President Lincoln, and as chairman of the 
Committee on the War Debts of the Loyal States; reelected 
to the Fortieth Congress, serving on the Committees on 
Appropriations and Rules; was reelected to the Forty-first 
Congress, and made Speaker of the House, holding that posi- 
tion during the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses; was 
reelected to the Forty-fourth Congress; in 1876 was elected 
United States Senator, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the 
resignation of Lot M. Morrill; was reelected for the term 
ending in 1883; resigned in 188 7, to accept the post of Sec- 
retary of State in the cabinet of President Gaifeld; was 
commissioned March 5, 188 1, and entered upon his duties 
March 7, 188 1; retired December /p, 188 1; was an unsuc- 
cessful candidate for President of the United States in 1884; 
was appointed Secretary of State by President Harrison 
and entered ttpon his ditties March 7, i88p ) and resigned 
the position June 4, 1892. Died in Washington January 
27, 1893. 

Frederick" T. Freunghuysen was born at Millstown, 
Somerset County, N. J., August 4, 181 7; was the nephew 
and adopted son of Theodore Frelinghuysen; graduated 
from Rutgers College in 1836; studied law and was admitted 
to the bar in 1838; was appointed attorney-general of New 
Jersey in 1861; reappointed in 1866; was subsequently ap- 
pointed a United States Senator from New Jersey for the 
unexpired term of William Wright, deceased, and served on 
the Committees on the Judiciary and Pensions. In January, 
1867, his appointment as Senator was confirmed by the leg- 
islature; his term ended in 1869; was reelected to the Senate 
for the term ending in 1875, and served on the Committees 




FREDERICK T. FRELI NGH U YS EN. 



1 




THOMAS F. BAYARD. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 125 

on Foreign Relations and the Judiciary, and as chairman of 
the Agricultural Committee; in 1890 was appointed minis- 
ter to England, but declined; was reelected to the Senate for 
the unexpired term ending in 1877; was appointed Secretary 
of State by President Arthur; was commissio7ied December 
12, 188 1, and entered upon his duties December /<?, 188 1; 
retired March 6, 188 j. Died May 20, 1885. 

Thomas F. Bayard was born in Wilmington, Del., 
October 29, 1828; was chiefly educated in the Flushing 
School, established by the Rev. Dr. F. L. Hanks; his early 
training was for a mercantile life; studied and adopted the 
profession of law; was admitted to the bar in 1851, and, 
excepting the years 1855 and 1856, when he resided in 
Philadelphia, always practiced in his native city; in 1853 
was appointed United States district attorney for Delaware; 
resigned in 1854; was elected a United States Senator for 
the term commencing in 1869 and ending in 1875; served 
on the Committees on Finance, Private Land Claims, and 
Revision of Laws; on the same day of his election, his father, 
James A. Bayard, was also reelected to the Senate from the 
same State, the only instance of the kind which ever occurred; 
was reelected in 1875, and again in 1881; resigned his seat 
in the Senate and was appointed Secretary of State by 
President Cleveland, and commissioned March <5, i88j\ 
entered upon his duties March 7, 1883; retired March 6, 
1889. Died at Karlstein, near Dedham, Mass., September 
28, 1898. 

James G. Blaine, of Maine, was appointed Secretary of 
State by President Harrison; was commissioned March j, 
188 p; entered upon his duties March 7, 188 p; retired June 
/, 1892. This was Mr. Blaine's second appointment. (See 
biography, p. 124.) 



126 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

Wiujam F. Wharton, of Massachusetts, while Assistant 
Secretary, was appointed Secretary ad interim, and entered 
upon his duties June 5, 1892; retired June 29, 1892. Was 
again appointed Secretary ad interim while Assistant Sec- 
retary, and entered upon his duties February 24, 1893, to 
succeed John W. Foster, and retired March 5, 1893. 

John W. Foster was born in Pike County, Ind., March 
2, 1836; graduated from the Indiana State University in 
1855 ; studied law at the law school of Harvard University ; 
was admitted to the bar and commenced practice at Evans- 
ville, Ind. ; served in the Union Army throughout the War 
of the Rebellion, rising to the rank of colonel and brevet 
brigadier-general ; at the close of the war became the editor 
of the Daily Journal, at Evansville, Ind.; in 1869 was 
appointed postmaster at Evansville ; was chairman of the 
Republican committee in 1872; in 1873 was appointed 
United States minister to Mexico; in 1880 was transferred 
to St. Petersburg, as minister to Russia; resigned in 1881 
and resumed the practice of law, locating in Washington, 
D. C. ; in February, 1 883, was appointed United States min- 
ister to Spain ; was appointed Secretary of State by Presi- 
dent Harrison, and entered upon his duties June 29, 1892; 
retired February 23, 18 93; was engaged by the Chinese 
Government as special commissioner and counsel in negoti- 
ating the treaty of peace between China and Japan ; was a 
member of the High Joint Commission for the consideration 
and adjustment of disputed questions between Great Britain 
and the United States ; has delivered a course of lectures on 
international law and diplomacy before the school of diplo- 
macy, Columbian University, and has made valuable con- 
tributions to the literature of international law and diplo- 
macy. Resides in Washington. 




JOHN W. FOSTER. 



3S*K 






WALTER Q. GRESHAM. 




RICHARD OLNEY. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 127 

Walter Q. Gresham was born in Harrison County, Ind., 
March 17, 1833; attended the State University at Bloom- 
ington, Ind., but did not graduate; studied law, was admitted 
to the bar in 1855, and engaged in practice at Congden, Ind.; 
entered the Union Army in 1861 as lieutenant-colonel; was 
soon afterwards promoted to be colonel, and was made a 
brigadier-general after the fall of Vicksburg; was wounded 
in July, 1864, while in command of a division before Atlanta, 
and was brevetted a major-general from that date; was 
financial agent of Indiana in New York City from 1867 to 
1869, when he was appointed United States district judge 
for the district of Indiana, in which capacity he served until 
April, 1883, when he was appointed Postmaster-General in 
the Cabinet of President Arthur; in 1884 was appointed, 
circuit judge of the seventh judicial circuit; was appointed 
Secretary of State by President Cleveland, and entered 
upon Iiis duties the same day he was commissioned — March 
6, 1893; died May j\V, r£pj, while in office. 

Edwin F. Uhl, of Michigan, while Assistant Secretary, 
Avas appointed Secretary of State, ad interim, to succeed 
Walter Q. Gresham, deceased, and entered upon his duties 
May 29, 1895; retired June 10, 1895. 

Richard Olnev was born in Oxford, Mass., September 
15, 1835; was prepared for college in Leicester Academy, 
Worcester County, and was graduated from Brown in 1856; 
was also graduated from Harvard Law School in 1859, and 
in the same year was admitted to the bar in his native State; 
in 1874 was a member of the Massachusetts legislature; 
was in the practice of the law in Boston until called to the 
office of Attorney-General of the United States by President 
Cleveland in March, 1893; resigned that position to accept 



128 History and Functions of the Department of State. 

the appointment of Secretary of State; was commissioned 
Secretary of State June 8, 1895, an d entered- upon his duties 
June 10, f8pj; retired March 5, i8p/; resumed the practice 
of law in Boston; Brown and Harvard conferred upon him 
the degree of LL- D. 

John Sherman was born in Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 
1823; was educated in the common schools, where was laid 
the foundation for the education he acquired through his 
insatiable avidity for knowledge; studied law, and at the 
age of 21 was admitted to practice; was elected to Con- 
gress in 1855; in 1859 was an unsuccessful candidate for 
the Speakership; was made chairman of the Ways and 
Means Committee, and thus became the leader of his party 
on the floor of the House of Representatives; entered the 
United States Senate in 1861, and sat continuously in that 
body till his death, with the exception of the four years 
he served as Secretary of the Treasury under President 
Hayes, and the period he was Secretary of State in the Cab- 
inet of President McKinley. During the civil war Mr. 
Sherman was one of the stanchest and most influential sup- 
porters of the policy of President Lincoln. He took a 
prominent part in the reconstruction policy after the war, 
and during President Grant's second term came still more 
prominently before the country as the chief author and 
champion of the measures for the resumption of specie pay- 
ments, which he afterwards carried to a successful issue as 
the head of the Treasury Department. He was three times 
put forward as an eligible candidate for the Presidency, but 
each time failed to receive the nomination. Resigned his 
seat in the United States Senate to accept the position of 
Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President McKinley; was 
appointed March 5, /<?P7, and entered upon his duties March 
<5, 1897; resigned April 26, 1808. Died October 22, 1900. 




JOHN SHERMAN. 




WILLIAM R. DAY. 



History and Functions of the Department of State. 129 

William R. Day was born in Ravenna, Ohio, April 17, 
1849; after completing his collegiate course in the Uni- 
versity of Michigan in 1870, he studied in the law school 
at Ann Arbor, and in 1872 began practice at Canton. His 
firm, which he usually represented in the courts, became 
known in a short time through the length and breadth of 
Ohio. He was a zealous Republican politician, but neither 
sought nor accepted office for himself until he was nomi- 
nated by both Republicans and Democrats to a judgeship in 
the court of common pleas in 1886. After a brief while he 
resigned from the bench to return to general practice. In 
1889 he declined, on account of failing health, the appoint- 
ment of judge of the United States district court. Presi- 
dent McKinley appointed him Assistant Secretary of State 
May 3, 1897;' was commissioned Secretary of State April 
26, 1898, and entered tpon his duties April 28, i8p8; 
resigned September 16, 1898, to accept the position of 
President of the Board of Peace Commissioners to negotiate 
a treaty of peace with Spain. After completing the work of 
the Commission he was nominated by President McKinley 
for judge of the circuit court of the United States for the 
sixth judicial circuit, northern district of Ohio, and the 
nomination was promptly confirmed by the Senate. Judge 
Day is now holding this position. 

Alvey A. Adee, Second Assistant Secretary — the posi- 
tion of Assistant Secretary being vacant — was appointed ad 
interim Secretary, and entered upon his duties September 
17, 1896; retired September 30, 1898, on which date John 
Hay assumed the duties of Secretary of State. 



INDEX 



Accounts, bureau, duties of 56-59 

Chief, biography of 55 

Adams, John Quincy, biography of 102-103 

John 87 

Adee, Alvey A. : 

Biography of 40 

Appointed secretary ad interim 129 

Ad interim, secretaries 4-5 

Adee, Alvey A 129 

Brent, Daniel 103 

Conrad, Charles M 1 15 

Derrick, William S in 

Graham, John 103 

Hamilton, Alexander H 105 

Hunter, William 117, 120 

Lee, Charles 99 

Lincoln, Levi 100 

Martin, J. L 108 

Nelson, John 111-112 

Rush, Richard 103 

Uhl, Edwin F 127 

Upshur, Abel P 1 1 1 

Wharton, William F 126 

Allen, Andrew H., biography of 60 

Appointments, bureau, duties of 83-85 

Chief, biography of 83 

Bayard, Thomas F., biography of 125 

Biographies, Secretaries and others 39~86 

Adams, John Quincy 102-103 

Adee, Alvey A 41 

Allen, Andrew' H . < 60 

Bayard, Thomas F 125 

Black, Jeremiah S 120 

Blaine, James G 123, 124, 125 

Boudinot, Elias 90 

Brent, Daniel 103 

131 



132 Index. 

Biographies, Secretaries and others — Continued. Page. 

Buchanan, James 113-114 

Calhoun, John C 1 12-1 13 

Cass, Lewis 1 18-120 

Clay, Henry 103-105 

Clayton, John M 114-115 

Chilton, Robert S., jr 50 

Conrad, Charles M 115 

Cridler, Thomas W 41 

Day, William R 129 

Derrick, William S in 

Emory, Frederick 80 

Everett, Edward 1 16-1 17 

Evarts, William M . 123 

Fish, Hamilton 122, 123 

Foster, John W 126 

Forsyth, John 107-108 

Frelinghuysen, Frederick T 124, 125 

Graham, John 103 

Gresham, Walter Q 127 

Hamilton, James Alexander 105 

Hay, John 39 

Hill, David J 40 

Hunter, William, 1 1 7, 1 20 

Jay, John 92-93 

Jefferson, Thomas 95, 96 

King, Pendleton 74 

Lee, Charles 99 

Legare, Hugh 110-111 

Lincoln, Levi 100 

Livingston, Edward 106-107 

Livingston, Robert R . . . 89 

Madison, James 100 

Marcy, William L r. . . . . 118 

Marshall, John 99-100 

Martin, J. L 108 

Michael, William H 42-44 

Mifflin, Thomas 90-91 

Monroe, James 101-102 

Morrison, Thomas 55-56 

Mosher, Robert B 83 

McLane, Louis 107 

Nelson, John 1 1 1-1 1 2 

Olney, Richard 127-128 

Pickering, Timothy 97~9§ 



Index. 133 

Biographies, Secretaries and others — Continued. Page. 

Randolph, Edmund 97 

Rush, Richard 103 

Secretaries of Foreign Affairs 87-94 

Seward, William H 120-122 

Sherman, John 128-129 

Smith, Robert 101 

Smith, Sydney Y 47 

Uhl, Edwin F 127 

Upshur, Abel P 1 1 1 

Van Buren, Martin 105-106 

Washburn, Elihu B 121, 122 

Webster, Daniel 108-1 10, 1 15 

Wharton, William F 126 

Black, Jeremiah S. , biography of 120 

Blaine, James G., biography of 1 23-1 24-1 25 

Boudinot, Elias, biography of 87-90 

Brent, Daniel, biography of 103 

Buchanan, James, biography of 113-114 

Buildings occupied by Department 9-1 1 

Calhoun, John C, biography of 11 2-1 13 

Cass, Lewis, biography of 118-1 19-120 

Chief Clerk's office, duties of 45-46 

Chilton, Robert S. jr., biography of 50 

Clay, Henry, biography of 103-104-105 

Clayton, John M., biography of 114-115 

Conrad, Charles M., biography of 115 

Cridler, Thomas W. , biography of 41 

Consular Service, personnel, bureaus, duties of 5-6-50-54 

Day, William R., biography of 129 

Dana, , reference to 87 

Department of State: 

Officers and chiefs of 7 

Biographies of present officers and chiefs of 39~94 

Buildings occupied by, at different times 7-1 1 

Duties of officers of 27-29 

Establishment of, by act of Congress 21 

Historical sketch of the development of !3-38 

Personnel of 25 

Routine duties of 32-36 

Achievements, some of 37-38 

Derrick, William S in 

Diplomatic Service 5-6 

Bureau of, duties of . 47 

Emory, Frederick 80 



1 34 Index. 

Page. 

Evarts, William M 123 

Everett, Edward r 16, 1 17 

Fish, Hamilton, biography of 122-123 

Foreign Affairs, Department of 9-1 1 

Buildings occupied by ", 9-1 1 

Becomes Department of State 21 

Development of 13-18 

Establishment of, by act of Congress 19-20 

Foreign Commerce, Bureau of, duties of 80-82 

Forsyth, John 107-108 

Foster, John W. , biography of 1 26 

Franklin, Benjamin, reference to 87 

Frelinghuysen, Frederick T., biography of 124, 125, 126 

Graham, John, biography of 103 

Gresham, Walter Q. , biography of 127 

Hamilton, James Alexander, biography of 105 

Hay, John, biography of 39 

Hill, David Jayne, biography of 40 

Hunter, William 117, 120 

Illustrations: 

Adams, John Ouincy 102 

Adee, Alvey A 41 

Allen, Andrew H 60 

Bayard, Thomas F 1 25 

Black, Jeremiah S 120 

Blaine, James G 123 

Buchanan, James 113 

Building occupied by Department at the present time 1 

Building occupied by Department of Foreign Affairs 9 

Building occupied by Department from 1820 to 1866 10 

Building occupied by Department from 1866 to 1875 11 

Calhoun, John C 112 

Cass, Dewis 118 

Clay, Henry 103 

Clayton, John M 114 

Chilton, Robert S. , jr , . 50 

Cridler, Thomas W 41 

Day, William R 129 

Emory, Frederick 80 

Evarts, William M 123 

Everett, Edward 116 

Fish, Hamilton 122 

Forsyth, John 107 

Foster, John W 126 



Index. 135 

Page. 
Illustrations — Continued. 

Frelinghuysen, Frederick T 124 

Gresham, Walter Q , 127 

Hay, John 39 

Hill, David Jayne 40 

Jefferson, Thomas 95 

King, Pendleton 74 

Livingston, Edward 106 

McLane, Louis 107 

Madison, James 100 

Marcy, William L 118 

Marshall, John 99 

Michael, William H 42 

Monroe, James 101 

Morrison, Thomas 90 

Mosher, Robert Brent 83 

Olney, Richard 127 

Pickering, Timothy 98 

Randolph, Edmund 97 

Seward, William H 1 20 

Sherman, John 128 

Smith, Robert 101 

Smith, Sydney Y 47 

Upshur, Abel P in 

Van Buren, Martin 105 

Washburn, Elihu B 121 

Webster, Daniel 108 

Jay, John, biography of 88 

Jefferson, Thomas, biography of 88 

King, Pendleton, biography of 74 

Lee, Charles 99 

Legare, Hugh S. , biography of 1 10-1 1 1 

Lincoln, Levi ico 

Livingston, Edward, biography of , 106-107 

Livingston, Robert R 87, 89 

McLane, Louis 107 

Madison, James, biography of 100 

Marcy, William L. , biography of 118 

Marshall, John, biography of 99 

Martin, J. L , 108 

Michael, William H. , biography of 42 

Mifflin, Thomas, biography of 88, 90, 91 

Monroe, James, biography of 101-102 

Morrison, Thomas, biography of : . 55 

Mosher, Robert Brent, biography of 83. 



1 36 Index. 

Page. 

Nelson, John 111-112 

Olney, Richard, biography of 127 

Personnel of the Department of State 3-4 

Pickering, Timothy, biography of 97-98 

Rolls and Library, Bureau and duties of 60-73 

Rush, Richard 103 

Secretaries: 

Number of / 4 

Ad interim 4-5 

Service: 

Consular • 5-6 

Diplomatic 5 

Seward, William H. , biography of 120-121 

Sherman, John, biography of 128 

Smith, Robert, biography of 101 

Smith, Sydney Y. , biography of 47 

Uhl, Edwin F 127 

Upshur, Abel P. , biography of 1 1 1 

Van Buren, Martin, biography of 105-106 

Vergennes, Count, reference to 87 

Washburn, Elihu B., biography of 121, 122 

Washington, George, reference to 88 

Webster, Daniel, biography of 108, 109, no, 115 

Wharton, William F 126 

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